The assassination attempt on former prime minister Imran Khan created panic in the country, especially after accusations from the PTI chief and rebuttals from the government and the ISPR.
In his first public statement after surviving a deadly gun attack, the PTI chairman named the premier, interior minister and a senior intelligence official as being responsible for the bid to assassinate him. Claiming that he had been aware of the conspiracy for a while.
He said he had also been warned ahead of Thursday that the attack could materialize soon, but had found it difficult to believe it, thinking that the plotters would not actually go through with their plan.
These are very serious accusations. The accusations were responded to by the federal government and the Inter-Services Public Services (ISPR). The army’s public relations wing termed the allegations against its officer and institution as baseless and condemned them.
“Pakistan army prides itself on being an extremely professional and well-disciplined organisation with a robust and highly effective internal accountability system applicable across the board for unlawful acts, if any, committed by uniformed personnel,” read a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
However, it added, if the honour, safety and prestige of its rank and file is being tarnished by vested interests through frivolous allegations, the “institution will jealousy safeguard its officers and soldiers no matter what”.
On the other hand, Punjab police have failed to register the case against the “three persons” named by Imran Khan. The role of the Punjab government in the scenario is also questionable, what are the reasons that Elahi government is avoiding registration of FIR.
The leaked ‘confession’ videos of the prime suspect, the delayed registration of the FIR and conflicting statements from the centre and Punjab have all added to the confusion and fuelled conspiracy theories.
The nation awaits answers. We must know who pulled the trigger, and the motives behind the attempt.
