ISLAMABAD: Reacting to the assassination attempt against him at a protest rally on November 3, during which he was shot in the leg, former prime minister Imran Khan said he feared he could be attacked again in the near future because the government felt threatened by his soaring popularity in view of the next general elections.
“They think that the only way to get me out of the way is actually [to] eliminate me. So I think that there is a threat, still,” the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) told France24, a French state-owned international TV network, in an interview.
Khan told France24 he was convinced the attack was an assassination plot hatched by the prime minister, the interior minister and a senior intelligence officer. He doubled down on his claim the suspect arrested was merely a decoy and that there was another gunman at the rally in Wazirabad city of Punjab.
The former prime minister said he only trusted the chief justice, Umar Ata Bandial, to conduct an independent investigation, arguing that any other probe would be sabotaged by Rana Sanaullah Khan, the interior minister.
“There is no way of me getting proper justice if these three people [the nominated suspects] remain in their offices,” he said.
He said that going forward, he would take “more precautions” but vowed to carry on regardless of the risks, insisting the protest march on Islamabad would remain peaceful.
He further said the only solution to the chaotic economic and political situation prevailing in the country was free and fair elections, before expressing confidence that his party was certain to win big whenever they are held.
To the question if he’s backed off his claim of a US conspiracy being behind his ouster, Khan denied having backtracked on his narrative and insisted that he was toppled as part of a collusion between Washington and members of the political and military elite back home.
He stressed there was indeed evidence the administration of Joe Biden wanted him out of office, observing that a diplomatic cable from Pakistan’s ambassador in the US proved his claim. The matter, he said, was now in the hands of the chief justice.
However, he said he didn’t want to go against the interests of the people of Pakistan by antagonising a superpower.
To another question, Khan said the contentious press conference addressed by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief was an “unadvisable” move. “I don’t want to damage my institutions because Pakistan needs a strong Army. The press conference was very unadvisable,” he said, noting the spy chief should have avoided the direct contact with the press.
He said that if he responded to the press conference “point by point”, the institution of the Pakistan Army would be undermined, before saying he did not wish to do so as Islamabad needed a strong military.
“If I replied to it point by point, I think the institution will be damaged and that’s not what I would like to do because we do need a strong defence force here”
Chairman Imran Khan’s interview at @FRANCE24 [Urdu subtitles]#WeTrustImranKhan pic.twitter.com/jNHBrVA3VY
— PTI (@PTIofficial) November 17, 2022
The former prime minister said he believed the press conference was also a reaction to the gruesome murder of journalist Arshad Sharif, who, according to Khan, was presenting “his point of view”. “He [Sharif] had been threatened […] after which he left the country and was later assassinated in Kenya,” he recalled.
He observed that after the murder, there was a “huge public backlash” against the generals and people cast fingers at the establishment, adding the news conference was more of a move to placate the public.
