Hole in the plan

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairperson Imran Khan, addressing supporters as the party’s long march resumed from Wazirabad a week after he was attacked, said that the “plan” to assassinate him was first formulated in September which Imran said he had “unearthed in a public rally on September 24”. According to Imran Khan, all eyes are on the top court now as the nation has “lost trust” in the institutions, saying that Pakistan is becoming a banana republic. “You [Supreme Court’s chief justice] have to save the country. The nation has lost trust in institutions. You have to fix this as the country doesn’t work without institutions,” he added. The former prime minister, who was removed from power through a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly in April this year, said that it is unimaginable in western countries what is happening in Pakistan these days. “When will the country’s law give protection,” Imran said. The PTI chief also said it was a miracle that so many people survived the attack. Doubling down on earlier claims, Imran held a senior military officer, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah responsible for the attack and said they had used “religious extremism” as a “cover to shunt off the blame”. “For anyone harboring any doubts,” Imran added, “you can tell that he had been told to say this when the attacker claimed he had done this alone̶1;. “The forensic [report] of the container has shown that there were two types of bullets, meaning there were two shooters,” he added, “so the whole plan they had was that [just like] Salman Taseer was killed by a religious extremist and the matter is sorted”. Imran also hailed Ibtesam – the young man whose quick thinking had saved the former prime minister – for his “heroic effort”. He also announced again that the party will “take lifetime responsibility” for the children of the victim who lost his life during the attack. “Our march will not end,” vowed Imran as he reiterated his commitment to the establishment of justice. Continuing his criticism, the PTI chief said that the senior military officer was behind “what they have done to us, to the journalists, and what they did to Arshad Sharif and what they did to Azam Swati̶1;. “I am the former primer prime minister, the chief of the largest party of Pakistan and I have not been able to register my FIR” because the military officer’s name was mentioned, said Imran. Earlier, a large number of PTI supporters gathered at the site where former premier Imran Khan was attacked in Wazirabad. The march was kicked off by PTI leader and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. He was flanked by other party leaders including Hammad Azhar, Faisal Javed, also among those injured in the attack on Imran, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry among others. The party had halted its march following the assassination attempt. Addressing party supporters, Qureshi said Thursday that Imran will address the march’s participants every day via video link and will join them in Rawalpindi, before he announced the party chief will be addressing the crowd shortly. “Those who attacked the PTI government through conspiracy had thought that the party will dismantle when it will be out of power” he said, adding that the rally in Wazirabad was proof that the people were with the PTI and that the party “will stand its ground”. Qureshi also said that “political analysts” had expressed reservations that Wazirabad was a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) heartland and that the march may not be successful there. “I ask you to tell me,” Qureshi said to cheering supporters “is this a PML-N heartland or a PTI fort?” At the outset of the march, PTI leader Hammad Azhar maintained that the long march was “stronger than before” and will continue towards Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Meanwhile, Imran Khan’s sons Qasim and Suleman Khan- who live in the United Kingdom with their mother Jemima Goldsmith – arrived in Lahore on Thursday to visit Imran, according to PTI Lahore’s Twitter account. Provincial Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal received them at Lahore airport after which the sons left for Zaman Park to see their father. Imran’s sons last visited Pakistan in 2016.