PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday alleged that another \u201coperation\u201d would take place outside Lahore\u2019s Zaman Park either today or tomorrow in an attempt to kill him.
\nOn Saturday, hours-long clashes were reported between PTI workers and the capital police after the former prime minister arrived at the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC) to attend a hearing in the Toshakhana case. As Imran left his Za\u00ad\u00adman Park residence to appear before the judge, a heavy contingent of police also launched a search operation at his house.
\n\u201cWhat is happening here is beyond my understanding,\u201d the PTI chief said in today\u2019s video address.
\nReferring to the attempt on his life in Wazirabad, he reiterated that he had predicted it earlier in his rallies. He alleged that the evidence of the incident was being erased, adding that the record of the joint investigation team (JIT) was also being destroyed.
\n\u201cNow another plan has been hatched. I am telling everyone, the judiciary [and] especially Punjab police.\u201d
\nHe alleged that the police chiefs of Islamabad and Punjab, and their \u201chandlers\u201d had planned another operation outside Zaman Park.
\n\u201cWhat is the plan? That there is another operation outside Zaman Park either today or tomorrow [\u2026] They have made two squads [\u2026] who will mix among our people, and then shoot and kill four to five police officials.\u201d
\nHe said that this would then prompt an attack from the other side which would open fire. He said that PTI workers would be killed in a Model Town-like situation before he would be killed in a manner similar to the assassination of Murtaza Bhutto.
\n\u201cThis is the plan. This will happen either today or tomorrow. I want to tell everyone. I want to tell the Punjab police that they will kill five of your people just for an excuse to attack.\u201d
\nAddressing his party workers, Imran called on them to not take part in any violence. \u201cWhatever they do, we will not do anything [\u2026] This time if they try to provoke you, you will not give any kind of reaction.\u201d
\nImran said he was ready to go to jail but did not want bloodshed. \u201cThat is why I am again telling workers to not participate in any violence.\u201d
\nThe ex-premier began his address by saying that he was going to talk about something \u201cvery important\u201d. He said that a \u201cmeeting\u201d would be held today where \u201ca minority will try to take the majority out of the race\u201d.
\n\u201cMeaning what they will try to do is that the PTI is somehow not allowed to contest polls or they are somehow taken out of the election race.\u201d
\nHe said that the incumbent government was well aware of the fact that their days in politics would end if they went ahead with polls.
\n\u201cBut what I want to talk about is more important than this. Today, our workers are being rounded up,\u201d he said, adding that he had not seen this happen before in any democratic setup.
\nHe said that workers were being picked up in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Faisalabad. \u201cIt is as if PTI is such a big, scary party. A party of criminals that [workers] are being rounded up and put in jails,\u201d he said.
\nThe PTI chief said that he had gotten to know that 143 cases had been registered against him. He lamented that the majority of the cases registered against him were on charges of terrorism.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t care about my cases but the way our people are being arrested on false cases, we are now writing to all international human rights organisations\u201d in this regard, he said.
\nImran said that he wanted the judiciary to protect the party\u2019s fundamental rights. He said that on one hand elections had been announced, yet there was a crackdown was initiated against PTI workers. \u201cWe try to take out a rally [but] we are attacked and cases were also registered against us only.\u201d
\nTalking about the party\u2019s powershow at Minar-i-Pakistan, he said that the PTI had wanted to hold it before Ramazan began but said that permission was denied. He said that now the court had granted permission and it would be held on Saturday (March 25).
\n\u201cThis will be a rally Pakistan will remember because the whole country will see where the nation stands. It will be a kind of referendum.\u201d
\nTalking about last week\u2019s clashes at the FJC, he said no other prime minister had been treated in this manner. \u201cIt took me five hours to get from the toll plaza on the Islamabad motorway to get to the judicial complex [\u2026] They had virtually closed down the motorway for just one man.\u201d
\nHe said that the workers accompanying him were held back at police checkpoints. \u201cI was mentally prepared that they will arrest me that day.\u201d
\nHe said that the police deployed at the scene kept increasing and suddenly his convoy was teargassed in an attempt to \u201cspread anarchy\u201d. Imran said he reached the doors of the FJC with \u201cgreat difficulty\u201d when police officials started pelting him with stones.
\nThe PTI chairman said he stood outside the FJC for 40 minutes to try and get in somehow. He also showed a video of the people gathered inside the complex, saying that a \u201cplan\u201d was in place to assassinate him in a scenario similar to what happened to Murtaza Bhutto.
\nImran said that police officials later told him that na maloom afraad (unknown people) were present at the scene in Counterterrorism Department uniforms. He alleged that the footage from CCTV cameras was erased.
\n\u201cThe nation knows me for the past 50 years. How many times have I broken the law? A whole plan was made to murder me.\u201d
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