Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari Saturday slammed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and said that the ex-prime minister must be careful about what he says.
\nBilawal, who holds the portfolio of foreign minister, lambasted the PTI chief after the former accused his father, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, of hatching a plot to assassinate him with the help of terrorist organisations.
\n“Imran must realize every time his wife has a dream he cannot just come on tv & make accusations about people. Her dreams won\u2019t stand up in court,” the minister said in a series of tweets.
\nBilawal claimed that Khan\u2019s allegations had increased the threat to him and his family, especially given their history.
\n\u201cAfter terrorist outfits called [me] and my party out by name in direct threats, Imran has now made false accusations against my father former president [Asif Zardari].”
\n“These statements increase threats to my father, my family & my part[y]. We take them seriously given our history,” the foreign minister said.Terming the accusations of the PTI chief \u201cdangerous,\u201d he said that PPP was exploring legal responses to Khan\u2019s most recent accusations.
\n\u201cWe are exploring legal response to Imran latest defamatory and dangerous accusations. In the past, he threatened my father that he was \u2018in the crosshairs of his gun\u2019.”
\n“He & his associates’ history as both sympathizers & facilitators of terrorists are well documented,” the foreign minister said.
\nReiterating his stance that Khan was unduly sympathetic to terrorists and extremists, Bilawal added: \u201cWhen in power, he released terrorists and arrested democrats, he handed over Pakhtunkhwa to terrorist organisation, his party funds terrorist groups to this day. All of this will be taken into account if any attack were to take place against myself, my father, or my party.\u201d
\nIn a virtual press conference on Friday Khan \u2014 who was ousted as the prime minister in April last year \u2014 claimed four people orchestrated a plan “behind closed doors” to assassinate him.
\nKhan alleged that now that the Wazirabad attack had failed, another plan was afoot. \u201cAsif Zardari is behind it. He has amassed a lot of money through corruption and he has invested that money in terrorists and hired a militant organisation.\u201d
\nBilawal further asserted: \u201cHis [Khan\u2019s] latest accusation that my family has any association to a terrorist organization or that we would employ them to cause him harm not only defies logic but exposes us all to an increased threat.
\n\u201cPPP will challenge him. We cannot let populist fiction dominate our discourse, poison our politics & damage our democracy. We will not tolerate being victims of terrorist & put up with propaganda from their political frontmen.\u201d
\nIt must be noted that earlier today, PPP leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nair Bukhari, and Farhatullah Babar held a press conference in Islamabad and denounced the allegations hurled by the former prime minister, saying the party would take legal action if Khan does not retract his statement and apologise.
\nSpeaking during the presser, Bukhari said that Khan is \u201cpolitically dead already\u201d. \u201cKhan has been mentally affected by his political failures and accuses his rival parties, the judiciary and the establishment from time to time,\u201d he added.
\nFurthermore, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, too, slammed the PTI chief for levying \u201cbaseless and dangerous\u201d allegations and spewing vitriol in a bid to stay relevant in the political arena.
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