August 30, 2007	Thursday	Sha'aban 16, 1428

GUJAR KHAN, Aug 29: Only an independent judiciary can guarantee a bright future of Pakistan and the masses should gear up their efforts to defend the new found freedom of judiciary.

This was said by Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan while talking to reporters after a reception arranged for him by Prof Ahmed Rafique Akhtar, a religious scholar and intellectual, on Wednesday evening.

Mr Khan blamed the forces of status quo for conspiring to curb the freedom of judiciary.

The PTI chief said President Gen Pervez Musharraf should be impeached for his false statements on the whereabouts of the missing people who were later recovered on the order of the Supreme Court.

The country has plunged in foreign debts to the tune of $16 billion while loans of the rich people had been written off to the tune of Rs35 billion.

Earlier replying to the questions of reporters at the residence of Prof Ahmed Rafique Akhtar, the PTI chief said during the period of the CJP’s suspension President Musharraf, during his speeches, told the public that missing people were no more in the custody of the agencies. However, on the Supreme Court’s orders some missing people were released from the unlawful custody of the agencies.

He also referred to the killing of innocent people in the tribal areas and in Lal Masjid, and termed these killings extrajudicial.

Commenting on the deal with the PPP, Mr Khan said it was an ironical that to protect his regime President Musharraf was keeping the leadership of one party outside the country while that of the other, which is ready to enter into a deal with him, was allowed to come to Pakistan provided his regime remained intact.

Earlier while addressing the reception, Imran Khan said independent judiciary was the only hope for the protection of basic human rights in the country and a means to check the corrupt elite class.

He said the people of Pakistan, who joined their hands with the legal fraternity and the civil society, would have to remain vigilant to maintain freedom of judiciary.