Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Jan has claimed Friday that he was aware of the plot to end his life that nearly came to fruition Thursday when he was shot by an individual during a stopover in the city of Wazirabad during his long protest march to the capital Islamabad.
«The day before I heard that they were going to kill me between Wazirabad and Gujarat,» Jan said during his first public appearance after the attempted attack, which he made from the Shaukat Janum hospital in Lahore, in a wheelchair, patient gown and with both legs in plaster casts, according to local media.
As he did previously, the former prime minister accused Prime Minister Shebhaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanullah and Pakistan’s Military Intelligence chief, General Faisal Nasir, of the «conspiracy» before describing details of the attack.
According to his own account of events, the former prime minister described that there were at least «two shooters» and that he fell to the ground when the first volley of gunfire hit him. One of the attackers, who was arrested, identified himself as an extremist, but «he was not an extremist at all» but was part of a «plan behind the attack».
«By the time I was shot at again, there were already two people opening fire. If the two bursts of gunfire had occurred at the same time, I would not have survived. I think because I fell to the ground the first time, the first shooter thought I was dead and fled,» he argued.
The personal physician of the former prime minister’s party Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (Movement for Justice or PTI), Dr. Faisal Sultan, confirmed shortly before the press conference that Jan was hit by at least four shots in both legs.
Sultan also showed an X-ray of the former prime minister’s leg showing fragments of the projectiles in one of his legs, which broke his tibia and ended up dangerously close to an artery.
THE PAKISTANIAN GOVERNMENT REPUDIATES THE ACCUSATIONS The Pakistani government has responded to these accusations in the same way it did on Thursday: repudiating all the statements made by the former leader. «He still thinks that with all this drama and telling false stories he can fool people for as long as he wants,» lamented Pakistani Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb.
«He has started to believe that he is telling the truth,» added the minister, who echoed the rejection expressed shortly before by the Interior Minister in comments to Geo TV.
«He has done nothing but tell lies without presenting a single proof of his accusations,» Sanullah denounced.
Meanwhile, thousands of Jan’s supporters are staging violent clashes with police across the country on Friday following the assassination attempt on the PTI leader last Thursday.
The party has confirmed the beginning of protest marches in the main cities of the country, starting with Islamabad and continuing with Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Malakand, Rajanpur, Bahawalnagar, Muzaffargarh and Kohat, among others, which have degenerated into clashes of varying intensity with the security forces.
In this regard, the former prime minister has declared his intention to continue the march to the capital once he receives medical clearance. «As soon as I get well I will give the order to Islamabad to go back to the streets, because this country is not made for slavery,» he said.
The current secretary general of the PTI, Asad Umar, has called for new multidudinary protests tomorrow Saturday in the country from 17.00, local time (13.00 in mainland Spain).
«There will be protests in all the cities of the country», Umar assured before pointing out that «the local teams of the party will announce the places of the marches» in due time.
