Imran Khan said today that he was hit by four bullets while trying to kill “those who use the script of religious extremism” in Pakistan’s Punjab’s Wazirabad city on Thursday. In his first video address since the attack from a hospital in Lahore, the former prime minister claimed, “I learned a day before the attack that either in Wazirabad or in Gujarat, they had planned to kill me.”
Wazirabad and Gujarat are cities located on the route of its Lahore-to-Islamabad march against the federal government that supported the establishment of the army.
Mr Khan details what he called a script: “First, he accused me of blasphemy”. […] They made tapes and dropped them and the PMLN (one of the ruling parties) produced it. I knew who was doing it.” He added that it’s easy to figure out “because it’s a digital world.”
“So first it was speculated that I disrespected religion and then their plan was the same as what they did in Wazirabad […] He claimed that ‘a religious extremist killed Imran Khan’.
One of Mr Khan’s supporters killed in the attack At least 13 others, including leaders of his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, were injured in Thursday’s firing.
“I was hit by four bullets,” the former cricket captain showed. post surgery stitches On his calf, in a wheelchair, dressed in a blue hospital gown, with a drip attached to his arm and a cast on one leg, with the national flag in the background.
He said there were two shooters. The police have so far arrested one pistol wielder and two other “suspects”.
The arrested attacker has told police on camera that he was acting alone: ”I was upset because he is misleading people and taking them away from the principles of Islam by claiming to be a prophet.” But Mr Khan has denied the allegation and has specifically blamed top leaders: Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Interior Security Minister Rana Sanaullah and Major General Faisal Nasir, who heads the intelligence agency ISI.
‘If anything happens…’
“Four men conspired to kill me,” he told TODAY, “I have made a video in which I have named those people, and put it abroad,” adding that if anything untoward happens to them It will be issued.
“How did I know they were plotting this? Insiders told me,” Mr Khan said in today’s video. .. [They were] Using the script of religious extremism,” he said, comparing it to the 2011 killing of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer by a religious extremist.
The government has denied any role and promised a fair probe.
The attack reminded how another former PM Benazir Bhutto was assassinated during a rally in 2007. Her murder is shrouded in mystery as she was campaigning before the election.
Imran Khan has been demanding mid-term elections since his government fell seven months ago after losing the confidence of the defense establishment. he has since campaign against the army And the “interference” of the intelligence agency ISI has “undermined democracy by setting up a puppet government”.
Once considered a “selection” of the army, the 70-year-old – known for treading the field as a World Cup-winning cricket star – served for nearly four years as PM until last April.
He began his “long march” in October last week to demand the resignation of the new government formed by his two main opponents, who are otherwise rivals, Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Bhutto’s. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).