report in The News, September 04, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister and PMLN leader Rana Sanaullah on Sunday took a jibe at PTI Chairman Imran Khan, saying the blue-eyed boy of the judicial system need not go abroad.
“Who is spending money on Imran Niazi?” the former interior minister asked. “Those he works for are trying to save him. First, they made him a hero, gave him foreign funding and brought him to power after which Pakistan’s economy and foreign relations were destroyed.”
In a statement issued on Sunday, Sana said that the path to civil war was paved through inflation whereas the minds of youth were filled with “gunpowder so that they could attack when and where they wanted”.
Amid reports that former prime minister Imran Khan hired a UK-based lawyer to represent him in international courts, Rana Sanaullah said that a “puppet is being used to defame Pakistan globally”.
“Going to the International Court of Justice means making Pakistan stand in the global dock as a criminal,” the senior PMLN leader said adding that only enemies of Pakistan could do this despicable act.
On September 1, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf announced on its official X — formerly known as Twitter — account: “PTI chairman and former PM Imran Khan has appointed the eminent human rights Barrister Geoffrey Robertson KC of Doughty Street Chambers to advise and represent him in international courts in relation to unlawful detention and human rights abuses.”
A PTI source in Islamabad said that the decision to hire Robertson was taken by Khan on the advice of Omar Ayub Khan, Zulfi Bukhari and his lawyers in Pakistan after consulting “some important people in the UK”.
Subsequently, on September 2, PTI revoked the services of Geoffrey Robertson KC after a backlash and severe criticism in the media.
Doughty Street Chambers said it has been told by PTI that Robertson’s services will not be required due to criticism in Pakistan.
Sanaullah said that occupiers of Palestine and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) were jubilant when they found out that Pakistan would be taken to international court.
As soon as the PTI announced it had hired Robertson, there was a lot of criticism in the media which revealed that the lawyer had been involved in campaigns against the Pakistani military, propagating false theories about the 1971 war and breakup of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
In August, PTI announced it had revoked engagements of UK solicitor Rashad Yaqoob, his organisation Human Rights Legal Aid Foundation (HRLAF) and Azhar Siddique, the Pakistan Supreme Court lawyer who is now based in Manchester.https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1106650-judiciary-s-blue-eyed-boy-need-not-go-abroad-sana
