ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday he found out about an “assassination plot” against him long before the gun attack on him last week, adding he shared the information with his followers in recent public rallies held in Rahimyar Khan and Mianwali cities.
Khan, who is also the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, survived an apparent bid on his life in Wazirabad while leading an anti-government protest march to Islamabad on November 3. According to his doctors, he received bullet wounds in legs due to the shooting incident in which one of his party workers lost his life and several others were injured.
The PTI chief accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer, the counterintelligence chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, of being behind the attempt on his life.
However, he did not provide any evidence to substantiate his claim, as the government and the military denied his accusations.
“I had discovered the assassination plot hatched against me almost two months ago & exposed it in [Rahimyar Khan] 24th Sept & Mianwali 7th Oct public rallies,” he said while sharing video clips of his speeches at the two rallies wherein he maintained “four people” were conspiring “behind closed doors” to get him killed by someone who could later be described as a “religious fanatic.”
“Wazirabad assassination attempt followed the script,” he continued.
Khan said he would “disclose the name of the second officer who was sitting with [Major] General Faisal [Naseer] in the control room from around 12 noon to 5 p.m. monitoring the execution of the plot.”
Anti-government protest
Earlier in the day, Khan’s party announced to resume its protest march from Wazirabad to Islamabad under the leadership of its vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Other PTI leaders, such as Asad Umar, would lead protesters from different parts of Punjab.
Khan is expected to join the march in Rawalpindi later this month after recovering from his injuries to lead it further into the federal capital.
“The Haqeeqi Azadi [Real Freedom] March of Tehreek-e-Insaf will resume tomorrow,” senior PTI leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said in a Twitter post. “No extension in the date now to reach Rawalpindi.”
“God willing, Imran Khan will be in Rawalpindi in the third week along with tens of thousands of people,” he added.
The party first announced to resume the march from Tuesday, though it later delayed it to Thursday without specifying any reason.
Since his ouster from power in April in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, Khan has held several public gatherings up and down the country to mobilize the public and force the coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to announce early national elections.
The government has repeatedly rejected Khan’s demand, saying the elections will be held on time in October next year.
Angered and shocked by the gun attack on Khan and his protest caravan, the party workers have staged demonstrations in different cities and blocked motorways and main highways to disrupt public movement.
The party’s local leadership in Rawalpindi has blocked almost all entry and exit points to the federal capital for the last three days to protest in solidary with their leader. The protesters have also blocked Islamabad-Lahore motorway entrance by staging a sit-in, forcing travelers to take a detour through the Islamabad Airport. The traffic congestion and restriction in the movement to and from the federal capital has caused public inconvenience.
PTI leaders directed all their workers on Tuesday evening to end their protests, except in Rawalpindi and around Islamabad, and join the protest caravans in their respective cities to march toward the federal capital.
The party vice-chairman, Qureshi, and PTI president in central Punjab, Dr. Yasmin Rashid, also chaired a party meeting in Lahore to review arrangements for the march.
“Imran Khan has adopted a clear stance for the stability and progress of Pakistan,” Qureshi said in a statement after the meeting. “The fruit of PTI’s long march will reach the general public as Imran Khan has been waging a jihad against the politics of personal interest.”
“Imran Khan is doing the Haqeeqi Azadi March to restore respect for Pakistan in the world,” he said, adding that workers should join the march on Thursday in Wazirabad with full fervor.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad police have placed diversions for traffic coming from Taxila via Grand Trunk Road to Rawalpindi while Faizabad – a junction between Islamabad and Rawalpindi – remains clear for traffic.
