LAHORE: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said Thursday that a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has formally started the investigation into the assassination attempt on him in Wazirabad. The PTI chief was injured during a gun attack while leading the party’s long march in Punjab’s Wazirabad on November 3. A PTI supporter, Moazzam Nawaz, was killed in the incident while 14 others, including the former premier, were wounded.
While talking to senior journalists at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore, the former premier claimed that two shooters had tried to assassinate him in the city of Wazirabad including the sniper who shot him in the leg.
“I am 100% sure that sniper was hired to assassinate me in Wazirabad,” Imran Khan claimed, adding that CM Pervaiz Elahi was not responsible FIR registration issue in the attack case. He went on to say only early elections could avert the country’s looming “economic collapse”.
Interacting with journalists, Khan said the establishment was exercising “absolute authority” in Pakistan compared to civilian setups.
Imran said the Army Chief wanted Pakistan to vote against the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations while he was of the view that abstaining would be a better option.
He said that the Army Chief also informed him of American pressure on the matter. “I told him [army chief] that Pakistan should follow independent foreign policy.”
The ex-premier, who was ousted from power in April this year via the opposition’s no-confidence vote, said during his visit to Moscow, Russia had offered gas and oil supplies to Pakistan in addition to wheat at subsidised prices “which is what Pakistan was in need of to offset rising inflation”.
Speaking on the occasion, he also conceded that he had differences with the establishment on the issue of then Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar and the anti-corruption drive.
The deposed premier said the military wanted Aleem Khan to be appointed the Punjab CM. Imran said he was informed about the “shady dealings” of the disgruntled PTI leader which is why he said he did not make him the provincial chief executive.
The PTI chief also admitted that as prime minister he failed to achieve results from his anti-corruption campaign.
Khan claimed that the government was introducing changes in the Pakis¬tan Army Act (PAA) 1952 in an effort to bring in an army chief who could “protect them”.
He said that there was a chance that the current leaders would flee the country. “They are doing this all for themselves, no the country,” he said.
“Their concern is not the country but ending their [corruption] cases, ending the opposition. Their aim is not to bring an army chief who is professional [..] because their interests are against the country.”
In an interview with FRANCE 24, Khan said that he was convinced that the recent attack on him was an assassination plot hatched by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah. He claimed that the suspect arrested was merely a decoy and that there was another gunman at the rally in the eastern city of Wazirabad.
The former premier said he feared further attempts on his life but vowed to rejoin the anti-government march. He said he would take “more precautions” but vowed to carry on regardless of the risks, insisting that the protest march would remain peaceful.
“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.” –Agencies
