KARACHI: Former Prime Minister and Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has blamed former Army Chief Gen Bajwa for engineering the cypher conspiracy that led to the dismissal of his government in April last year.
In an interview to a private TV channel last night, Imran Khan said “he (Bajwa) had sent two brigadiers who proved Nawaz was involved in the Panama case, this is why Nawaz is not forgiving Bajwa.”
When asked as to why Nawaz Sharif was allowed to leave, Imran said the PML-N supremo’s medical reports were manipulated. “Imagine the extent of the deep state’s power,” he said.
He further said “the ex-army chief hired Hussain Haqqani — Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States of America — through the Foreign Office to topple my government and we didn’t know. They met Haqqani in Dubai and hired him in September 2021.”
Imran Khan said that the former diplomat began lobbying against him in the United States and promoted General (retd) Bajwa, adding that the cypher by US diplomat Donald Lu was a result of the lobbying in America.
Referring to Wazirabad assassination attempt on November 3 last year, he said “I know PM Shehbaz, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and a senior officer had planned the attack. I knew that they plotted to attack me.”
Speaking about Local Government elections held on January 15 in Karachi and Hyderabad, Imran Khan said the elections were rigged, and deplored the tactics employed by PPP to steal the polls by collaborating with the local police, administration, and the election commission.
“Educated business-minded people live in Karachi,” he said, asking: “how can they vote for PPP”.
“PPP’s corruption has brought Sindh to ruins,” he said, adding that the people of Sindh and Karachi were most oppressed given the city’s state and the delays in its progress. Khan said he knew he “had to” go to Karachi.
About who would be the caretaker CM of Punjab, Imran Khan said the candidates named by the opposition claiming that one is Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Zardari’s frontman, while the other is Shehbaz Sharif’s.
“One name was involved in regime change against us. If the election commission appoints such a man, we won’t accept it,” the PTI chairman asserted.