Former Pakistani Prime Minister and chairman of the opposition Tehreek-e-Insaf party Imran Khan said the attack on him was prepared in advance, and that he had information about it from his Pakistani intelligence contacts. The politician said this in an interview with CNN, which aired in the US on Monday.
"Remember, three and a half years ago, I was in power? I have connections in the intelligence agencies, in different ones. How did I get this information [about the assassination attempt]? From the intelligence services. Why? Because most people are terrified of what's happening in the country," Khan said.
The politician described the attack as a planned assassination attempt. Pakistani authorities tried everything to remove him from the political scene but failed, he said, and that is why the attack was organised.
In addition to the political situation in the country, the former Pakistani prime minister also raised the issue of his own health. According to him, after the attack, doctors extracted three bullets from his right leg and fragments remained in his left leg. The former prime minister's bones were damaged and he will recover in a month or a month and a half.
Khan, who underwent surgery after sustaining gunshot wounds Nov. 3, said in a video message Friday that Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and "a high-profile person in the army" were behind the assassination attempt. According to him, these statesmen "made a plan to kill him after they saw that the number of participants in the Long March was growing noticeably. This march, involving members of Khan's party, was arranged to force the country's authorities to hold new parliamentary elections.
The Pakistan army later approached the federal government with a proposal to initiate proceedings against those responsible for slandering the Armed forces of the Islamic Republic and their representatives, thereby responding to accusations made by the former prime minister.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS