LAHORE: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has named his ‘suspects’ just a day after failed assassination attempt on his life in the long march at Wazir Abad, asking Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial why the leader of the country’s biggest political party ‘not getting justice’.
Imran addressed from Shaukat Khanum Hospital on Friday.
Former premier Imran Khan has alleged that the “government and its handlers” had planned to get him murdered in the same way former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was killed.
The PTI chief named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifn Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal as the persons who plotted to kill him.
However, Khan said that these three were separate from the ones who he had named in a tape stashed abroad, had plotted to kill him.
“How did I find out? Insiders told me. The day before Wazirabad, they made the plan to kill me as they saw the number of people increasing using the script of religious extremism.”
In his initial remarks, Imran Khan said that he received four bullets in the gun attack during PTI’s long march in Wazirabad and Dr Faisal Sultan would give a briefing about his injuries.
Imran Khan said, “I was aware of an assassination attempt in Wazirabad or Gujrat. I knew that I would be targeted in Wazirabad or Gujrat.”
Imran Khan claimed that the party failed to register a first information report (FIR) but that no one did so because they were “afraid since many institutions are above the law.”
Narrating the events of the attack on him, Imran said he would have been fatally hurt if “two heroes” were not present during the long march.
“I salute martyr Muazzam […] and Ibtisam, the way he caught the attacker […] if it wasn’t for his bravery the attacker would have fired more bullets,” he said.
Imran Khan said that he was standing on the container when a “burst of gunshots” was fired at him, striking him in the thigh and forcing him to fall.
He claimed that if the two bullet sprays had been timed, he would not have lived. Then a second burst arrived, there were two people.
“Because I fell down, I think he [the shooter] thought I had died and fled.” He said.
He noted that one suspect, claiming to be an extremist, had been arrested. “He is not an extremist. There was a plan behind the attempt [and] we will uncover it.”
PTI chief Imran Khan further said that if there was one party in Pakistan that could unite the country it was PTI.
“If the military could unite the country then east Pakistan would not have broken away. Only political parties unite countries, the military helps. We didn’t learn from history”.
“When I first set out for the march, I was told that they will kill me. At first, I wondered if they would really hurt the nation for their petty interests.
“I ask the nation today, do we have to stay like this, or do we have to change our fate and become free? Sacrifices are needed for this.”
PTI Chairman Imran Khan urged Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa to act now to prevent the country from heading down the path of destruction.
“If you don’t take action against black sheep. the nation […] will start breaking apart,” he said, urging him to put the country first.
Calling upon Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Imran Khan said that the leader of the country’s biggest party was “not getting justice”.
“CJP, whatever was done to me in the last six months, I can assure you it has never been done by the country even with an enemy. He added.
“I won the highest civil awards […] I raised the respect of Pakistan in cricket […] the Shaukat Khanum hospital is internationally renowned. I made two universities. And then I created the biggest party in the country,” he said.
PTI Chief Imran Khan has said that the nation has finally stood up and now has two paths before it: a peaceful or a bloody revolution.
“There is no third way. I have seen this nation wake up and this genie of awareness won’t go back in the bottle.
“Now decide if we can bring change in a peaceful way through the ballot box and fair and free election or through chaos,” the former premier asked.
The former premier vowed to take to the streets once against after recovering from his wounds. He asserted that he did not care about his life and refused to remain under the “slavery of these thieves”.
