muhammadhafeezmalik
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This was also reported in London newspapers at that time:
I'd do the same as terror suspects, says Imran Khan
FORMER cricket superstar Imran Khan yesterday gave his support to two terror suspects accused of encouraging guerrilla warfare in Pakistan.
Giving evidence at a London terror trial, the sportsman-turned-politician said had he been in the same position as the two men in the dock he would have been prepared to take up arms.
He told the court he would have been willing to use violence against the Pakistan government if he had been from the country’s poorest province of Baluchistan, where he said the army had killed and kidnapped citizens, made 75,000 homeless, rigged elections and controlled the courts.
Imran, chairman of the Movement For Justice political party in Pakistan, was giving evidence during the trial of two Baluchi men.
The pair are accused of encouraging acts of violence against former dictator General Musharraf’s government from their London base.
Imran said the military leader had abused his power, collected “bounty” from America for handing over terror suspects and had rejected a political solution to unrest in Baluchistan because “a military man only understands military means”.
Henry Blaxland QC, representing Hyrbyair Marri, one of the defendants, asked Imran: “Given your own knowledge of the situation in Baluchistan, you have gone on record to say that if you were a Baluchi you may have resorted to picking up a gun to defend yourself, is that right?”
Imran said: “To defend the rights of my people... I think if I had no access to getting into parliament because most of the elections are heavily rigged there.”
He added: “If I had no way of expressing my grievances or this injustice where... most of my people are below the poverty line, how else would I express myself?”
Imran, speaking via video link from Islamabad, said that when the Baluchi people protested, Musharraf sent in the army.
“Hundreds disappeared, there was extra judicial killing. It was treated more like a colony rather than a part of Pakistan,” Imran added.
Marri, 40, of Ealing, and Faiz Baluch, 27, of Wembley deny assisting terrorism and inciting murder abroad. The trial continues.
I'd do the same as terror suspects, says Imran Khan
FORMER cricket superstar Imran Khan yesterday gave his support to two terror suspects accused of encouraging guerrilla warfare in Pakistan.
