ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday demanded a "powerful" inquiry headed by the chief justice of Pakistan into what he calls a "planned assassination attempt" on his life in November last year, when he was injured in a gun attack in Wazirabad city.
Khan received bullet wounds on November 3, 2021 while he was leading a motorized convoy of supporters from Lahore in Pakistan's Punjab province to the federal capital, Islamabad. As Khan's anti-government rally reached Wazirabad city, a man opened fire at him and his supporters.
One person was killed while multiple people, including Khan, received gunshot wounds. The former prime minister blamed Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and ISI director-general for counterintelligence, Major General Faisal Naseer, for ordering the attack. The government and senior military officials have rejected Khan's accusations.
Within an hour of the attack, police released a video statement of the suspect, in which he said that he had acted alone and wanted to kill Khan for “misleading the people.”
In a video message, Khan spoke about the probe into the incident, complaining that the Gujrat district police officer (DPO) had refused to cooperate with the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) investigating the attack. He said the "powerful people" that he blamed for the incident would never let justice prevail.
"Only a powerful inquiry, backed by the chief justice of Pakistan, can give me justice," he said. "Otherwise, the way I have seen hurdles [in the probe], I have no expectation of receiving justice," he added.
Khan repeated allegations that he had been the target of a "planned" assassination attempt on his life, adding that people within Pakistan's security agencies had told him about the attack before it occurred.
Khan accused the government of covering up the truth behind the attack on him. In a veiled dig at Pakistan's powerful military, the former prime minister said knew Sharif and Sanaullah could not have covered up the truth on their own.
"On the one hand, I am disappointed but on the other, also concerned about my country that those whom we expect should protect the country, who are its protectors, how can they be a part of this plot," Khan asked.
"Because this couldn't have happened without their [involvement]," he added. "The entire coverup that happened, these two criminals, Rana Sanaullah and Shehbaz Sharif, they can't do it themselves. Only people more powerful than them could have done it," he added.
