- Says masses were incited through ‘humiliating’ abduction of a former prime minister
- Emphasizes party believes in political, constitutional, and legal struggles
RAWALPINDI: Incarcerated founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan on Wednesday rebutted the narrative being created to link him with inciting the public to protest at General Headquarters (GHQ) during the May 9 riots.
In a statement released on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the former premier clarified that there has never been an instance of violent protests in the nearly three-decade history of PTI. “Over the past two and a half years, the worst tactics were used against PTI to incite violence,” he added.
In November 2022, he said that there was an assassination attempt on him, and even his request for an FIR of his choice was denied.
The former prime minister further revealed that his residence was attacked twice by military personnel. On one occasion, during his court appearance, there was a deliberate plan to assassinate him by deploying plainclothes individuals, he added.
On May 9, he explained that the masses were incited by the humiliating abduction of a former prime minister and the leader of Pakistan’s largest and most popular political party, which could have led to a major incident.
He added that PTI’s political training does not include elements of violence and the party believes in political, constitutional, and legal struggles.
Imran Khan said that May 9 was a false flag operation. “Those who stole the CCTV footage of May 9 are the real culprits of that day. Their intellect is such that they compare the May 9 incident to the Capitol Hill protest in the USA, where a thorough investigation and review of CCTV footage led to the punishment of only those involved, without implicating the entire Republican Party,” he added.
A day earlier, Senator Faisal Vawda accused PTI founder Imran Khan of being responsible of prevailing political instability, claiming that former DG Inter-Services Intelligence Lt-Gen (r) Faiz Hameed had provided tangle evidence, linking Khan to vandalism and riots on May 9.
“I cannot champion law and democracy when multiple cases are pending against me in courts. Some time ago, I revealed that Imran Khan’s close associate, Faiz Hameed, provided evidence of Khan’s involvement in the May 9 vandalism,” revealed Vawda during an interview with a private TV channel.
To a question if Faiz Hameed had advised the protest at GHQ on May 9, the ex-minister clarified, “This was not Faiz Hameed’s suggestion, rather Imran Khan was part of the entire scheme.”
Vawda claimed that Imran had admitted to directing his supporters to march towards GHQ, elaborating that parties like PML-N, PPP, JUI-F, and MQM-P had also clashed with the establishment in the past but eventually sat down for negotiations.
