ISLAMABAD:
Opposition leaders on Saturday vehemently condemned the sentencing of PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the Toshakhana-II case, denouncing the verdict as a blow to justice and a stark symptom of a broader unravelling of constitutional order, judicial credibility and democratic accountability in the country.
The condemnation coincided with a wider mobilisation at the national conference of the Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Aeen Pakistan (TTAP), where political leaders, lawyers, journalists, intellectuals and civil society representatives agreed that the moment called for resistance rather than reconciliation.
They endorsed a street movement as the only remaining course to push back against constitutional backsliding and to defend democracy and fundamental rights.
Speaking at a press conference at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, Islamabad, opposition leaders warned that such rulings would only pour fuel on an already smouldering political divide and further hollow out public confidence in state institutions.
They said the verdict laid bare a familiar pattern of selective accountability, where the scales of justice appeared tilted, power set the terms and meaningful relief remained out of reach for ordinary citizens and political dissenters alike.
Addressing the media, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the party unequivocally rejected the sentence handed down to Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in the Toshakhana-II case. He warned that such verdicts would sow unrest and instability, adding that public confidence in the justice system was rapidly eroding.
TTAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said punishing those who spoke for rights could not be termed justice. He said people would inevitably question such rulings, particularly in a country where massive corruption scandals involving billions of rupees were well known but largely unpunished.
He said that selling or buying conscience appeared to have become the measure of being deemed a “good Pakistani”.
Speaking on the occasion, Akhtar Mengal said the sentence deserved the strongest condemnation, asking whether no previous prime ministers had taken items from Toshakhana and whether any of them had ever been punished.
Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said the verdict was condemnable, adding that both the public and parliament had been rendered irrelevant. He alleged that public rights were effectively plundered within parliament and accused the government of trying to demoralise the opposition, a strategy he said would fail.
Former senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar also condemned the sentencing, saying political victimisation was no longer limited to politicians.
He cited cases against lawyer and human rights activist Iman Mazari for raising public issues, a narcotics case against journalist Matiullah Jan and the removal of Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri, saying his only “crime” was moving swiftly on bail and election-related cases involving the PTI founder.
Courts should be boycotted
PTI leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi said the verdict had laid bare the justice system, saying that it had become clear that courts in Pakistan no longer delivered justice. He said PTI workers were facing some 65,000 cases and went on to suggest that courts should now be boycotted.
He warned that “fabricated verdicts” were creating a dangerous vacuum and cited a UN report stating that ongoing actions were neither constitutional nor legal, but inhumane.
Zubair Umar said the opposition was deeply saddened by the sentences handed to Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi, as well as by punishments given to Yasmin Rashid, Umar Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mahmoodur Rashid and Ejaz Chaudhry.
He said the judiciary had effectively been dismantled and asked who would trust verdicts delivered without proper trials. He questioned the logic of sentencing elderly leaders in their seventies, calling it blatant oppression, and said injustice would persist unless the government itself was challenged.
At the national conference, participants unanimously agreed that reconciliation with the establishment had failed and that resistance was now unavoidable.
Political leaders rejected constitutional amendments, condemned the weakening of parliament, while lawyers decried the erosion of judicial authority and journalists raised alarm over the PECA law, which they said criminalised free expression.
Achakzai urged leaders including Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Nawaz Sharif and Jamaat-e-Islami to sit together for dialogue, while insisting that the mandate of the February 8 elections be accepted. He said dialogue was possible only if permission was granted to meet Imran Khan, stressing that meetings with family and political leadership were a basic right, irrespective of convictions.
Veteran politician Javed Hashmi said nations attained freedom through prisons and sacrifices, adding that rights were won through perseverance rather than retreat. He rejected divisive politics and said dialogue, not slogans or confrontation, was the only sustainable solution.
PTI leader and senior lawyer Salman Akram Raja said the Toshakhana-II verdict had come unexpectedly during a scheduled hearing, adding that the issue transcended party lines and concerned the entire nation.
He said the country must decide whether to continue enduring oppression or resist it, conveying Imran Khan’s message that the nation should prepare for a street movement.
Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser said the opposition had no option left but to take to the streets, insisting that fear would not deter them and that they were demanding justice strictly on merit.
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Liaqat Baloch called for strengthening every national voice for free and impartial elections. He demanded the rollback of constitutional amendments passed through “an artificial majority”.
Lawyer Iman Mazari said the PTI remained the country’s most popular party because the public had given its mandate to Imran Khan. Although not a PTI supporter, she said she and others would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the PTI if it chose resistance, stressing that the issue was no longer about a single leader but about the people’s mandate.
She condemned the treatment of Imran Khan’s sisters outside Adiala Jail and said such behaviour must be opposed collectively, whether directed at Mahrang Baloch, Imran Khan or Ali Wazir.
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar said the movement, launched two years ago, had now become an organised national voice. He alleged systematic theft of PTI’s mandate, including the loss of reserved seats and by-elections, and said Imran had authorised Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas to decide whether the opposition should pursue dialogue or resistance, adding that Imran Khan and his 30 million voters stood behind them.
