PTI chief Imran Khan on Tuesday doubled down on his allegations against a serving senior military officer, who he has accused on several occasions of hatching a plot to assassinate him.
The PTI chairman made the remarks ahead of departing for Islamabad to appear before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in a mutiny case and another pertaining to charges of attempted murder.
His biting rejoinder comes a day after the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that “irresponsible and baseless allegations” by Imran against the said military officer without evidence were “extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable”.
During a rally on Saturday, the PTI chairman had once again named a senior intelligence official for orchestrating plans to murder him. “I am on the roads despite verifiable threats to my life. I have already escaped an assassination attempt once. On the second occasion, I was able to sniff out murder planning,” he had said.
This was not the first time the ex-premier has made these claims. After an assassination attempt last year, Imran had held Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the senior intelligence official as being responsible for the bid to assassinate him and demanded they resign.
In the video shared on Twitter on Tuesday, Imran said that he was departing for the federal capital as he was scheduled to appear before two courts.
“Before I leave, I want to say two things. Firstly, the ISPR has issued a statement that the institution has been disrespected — the army has been disrespected [by] naming an intelligence officer that has tried to kill me twice.
“ISPR sahib, listen to me carefully. Respect is not [confined] to a single institution; respect should be for every single citizen,” he said.
Imran highlighted that he was the chief of the country’s “largest” political party, adding that he did not need to lie.
“This man tried to kill me twice and whenever an investigation is carried out, I will prove that it was this man and there is a whole gang with him,” Imran said, adding that the nation was well aware of who was standing with the officer in question.
“My question is: [Despite being] a country’s ex-prime minister — because this man’s name has come forward — [why was] I unable to register a first information report (FIR)?”
He said that the truth would only surface once an investigation is carried out. “If he was innocent, it would have been revealed,” the PTI chief said, terming the officer in question to be such a “powerful personality” that he was unable to register a case despite being in power in Punjab.
He said that two senior police officials had refused to become a part of the joint investigation team (JIT) formed by the Punjab government to investigate the attack on his life in Wazirabad. “Who was behind it? Who was this powerful?”
He alleged that when the JIT determined that three shooters were involved in the incident, the team itself was “sabotaged” and that four Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officials changed their statements.
“The prosecutor general investigated. He said action should be taken against the four because they tried to sabotage [the JIT]. Who was behind them? Who was this powerful?”
The PTI chief further claimed that he would prove that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had taken over the Judicial Complex in Islamabad the night before he went to attend a hearing in the Toshakhana case in March.
The PTI chairman has already claimed that he did not disembark from his vehicle because “unknown people” were positioned there with plans to kill him.
“I will prove that ISI [officials] were present in CTD uniforms and lawyers’ garb. I will prove that a brigadier, who I will not name, was there to monitor everything. What was the ISI doing there?”
Imran said that the mother of slain journalist Arshad Sharif had also taken the names of the intelligence officer and the gang that he was a part of yet no investigation was carried out as he was a “holy cow” and, therefore, above the law.
“ISPR sahib, when an institution takes action against black sheep, it improves its own credibility. An institution which catches corrupt people strengthens itself.”
He said that action is taken when a doctor or an employee does something wrong at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital (SKMH).
“It is my army, my Pakistan not just yours. It is our army,” Imran asserted. He also lamented the crackdown against those who were vocal about their criticism of the military establishment, stating that it was in fact harming the institution.
The PTI chief went on to say that there was also no need to call in a heavy contingent of police and other officials during his appearance before the courts in Islamabad today.
“If someone has a warrant, come to me directly […] I am prepared to go to jail […] spending so much money as if a major criminal is coming to Islamabad. Do us a favour and don’t stage such a drama and directly provide a warrant,” he said, asserting that he was mentally prepared to go to jail.
He also said that the plan hatched by “Dirty Harry” involved a gang of people, adding that if God willed, he was ready to die at their hands. He ended his video message by calling on the nation to “get ready”.
‘Baseless’ allegations by Imran against serving military officer ‘unacceptable’: ISPR
On Monday, the ISPR stated that Imran had levelled baseless allegations against a serving senior military officer without offering any evidence.
“This fabricated and malicious allegation is extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable,” the ISPR said.
“This has been a consistent pattern for the last year wherein military and intelligence agencies officials are targeted with insinuations and sensational propaganda for the furtherance of political objectives,” it said.
“We ask the political leader concerned to make recourse to legal avenues and stop making false allegations,” the ISPR said, adding that the institution reserved the right to “take legal course of action against patently false and malafide statements and propaganda”.
A day earlier, PM Shehbaz had also criticised Imran and said: “Imran Niazi’s act of routinely maligning and threatening the Pakistan Army and Intelligence Agency for the sake of petty political gains is highly condemnable.”
“His levelling of allegations without any proof against Gen Faisal Naseer and officers of our Intelligence Agency cannot be allowed and will not be tolerated,” Shehbaz had added, which had prompted Imran to respond and ask if he did not have the right to nominate those he felt were responsible for the assassination attacks on him.
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