'Ready to die than live under these duffers... I'm ready to go to jail': Imran Khan before arrest
Islamabad, May 9: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was arrested by Rangers from outside the Islamabad High Court Tuesday, had said earlier in the day that the Shehbaz Sharif government wanted to put him in jail and he was ready for it.
"I am ready to die than live under these duffers, the question is are you ready? There is no case on me. They want to put me in jail, I am ready for it," Imran Khan said in a video posted on his Twitter handle.
"My reply to ISPR and attempts by PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) and their handlers to arrest me for two reasons: one, to prevent me from campaigning because Insha Allah when elections are announced I will be doing jalsas; two, to prevent me from mobilising the masses for street movement in support of Constitution if PDM government and their handlers refuse to obey the SC and violate Constitution on holding of elections," he added.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief doubled down on his allegations against a serving senior military officer, who Imran Khan has accused on several occasions of hatching a plot to assassinate him.
In his video, Imran Khan replied to the ISPR and "attempts by PDM and their handlers" regarding his arrest. He said that he was departing for the federal capital as he was scheduled to appear before two courts.
His biting rejoinder comes a day after the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said "irresponsible and baseless allegations" by Imran against the said military officer without evidence were "extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable".
During a rally on Saturday, the PTI chairman had once again named a senior intelligence official for orchestrating plans to murder him. "I am on the roads despite verifiable threats to my life. I have already escaped an assassination attempt once. On the second occasion, I was able to sniff out murder planning," he had said.
This was not the first time the ex-premier has made these claims. After an assassination attempt last year, Imran had held Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and the senior intelligence official as being responsible for the bid to assassinate him and demanded they resign.
"Before I leave, I want to say two things. Firstly, the ISPR has issued a statement that the institution has been disrespected -- the army has been disrespected [by] naming an intelligence officer who has tried to kill me twice," Imran Khan said.
"ISPR sahib, listen to me carefully. Respect is not [confined] to a single institution; respect should be for every single citizen.
"This man tried to kill me twice and whenever an investigation is carried out, I will prove that it was this man and there is a whole gang with him," Imran said, adding that the nation was well aware of who was standing with the officer in question.
"My question is: [Despite being] a country's ex-prime minister -- because this man's name has come forward -- [why was] I unable to register a first information report (FIR)?" he added.
Imran Khan said the truth would only surface once an investigation was carried out. "If he was innocent, it would have been revealed," the PTI chief said, terming the officer in question to be such a "powerful personality" that he was unable to register a case despite being in power in Punjab.
- ANI
