ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday demanded an open hearing into the matter of foreign conspiracy in Supreme Court and claimed that he was right all along and the National Security Committee’s (NSC) latest statement proves that there was a US conspiracy against his government.
He was addressing his first press conference after his removal from office via a no-confidence motion. He added that the NSC meeting — with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair — endorsed that the cable was genuine and that Pakistan’s ex-ambassador to the US held a meeting with American official Donald Lu, where the latter used undiplomatic language.
Imran Khan maintained that not only they (US) wanted his removal as PM but also made it clear that if the No-Confidence Motion fails, Pakistan will have to bear the consequences.
He demanded that the Supreme Court of Pakistan should conduct an open hearing into the case so that all the characters behind this “conspiracy” be exposed.
“I will go a step forward and say that he (Donald Lu) was arrogant. The Joe Biden administration official told our ambassador that Imran Khan will have to be removed through a no-confidence motion,” the PTI chairman said, adding that the meeting took place before the no-trust motion was filed.
Reiterating his claim, Khan said the US official told Pakistan’s ambassador that everything would be forgiven for Islamabad if he was removed from office.
Khan said following Lu’s meeting with the Pakistani envoy, the PTI allies started “realizing” that the country’s situation was not ideal and that the then-government needed to be removed from power.
“But let me tell you, our economic situation was very good, our exports, remittances, tax collection, agricultural output, and the price of agricultural products were all historic,” he said.
He said that the political heads and some of our allies were unaware that they were part of a foreign conspiracy, however, some people here were unaware of the “conspiracy”, the person sitting in London, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, his brother Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari were all part of it.
“They were all hand-in-hand in this conspiracy,” he said
The former PM, while answering a question, said that Shehbaz Sharif (now PM) had claimed that he will side with me if such a letter exists.
“Now I don’t want thieves like you to side with me but at least you should apologize (now that the existence of the letter is confirmed),” said Imran Khan.
The PTI chairman appealed to the Supreme Court to investigate the cable from the United States and hold an open hearing as if the apex court fails to do so, then no prime minister would be able to stand firm against conspiracies and threats.
“It (Supreme Court) should do now what it did not do earlier — probe the cable […] even former president Gen Pervez Musharraf decided to follow the instructions just because of a threat. Therefore, it is imperative that the court probe this cable,” the ex-premier said.
Khan said once the apex court investigates the cable, it will come to light that then-opposition leaders and PTI members met foreign diplomats often — in the days up to the no-confidence motion.
“How did a media campaign start against my government? I knew what was happening as I was getting reports,” the PTI chairman said.
Khan said he was surprised that the top court was not hearing the case on an urgent basis. “Does this issue not warrant the court’s immediate attention?”
The PTI chairman told the top court that it was imperative that it hold consistent hearings on Article 63(A) as it was crucial for the country’s future.
The PTI chairman also demanded Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja resign from office as Pakistan’s “biggest political party” did not have confidence in him anymore.
“He takes all the decisions against us, and since we do not trust him anymore, he cannot remain the umpire,” he said.
The ex-prime minister also announced that he had instructed his party to start working at the ground level for the “actual independence march” towards Islamabad, but noted he would announce a date later.
Khan said a sea of people would march toward Islamabad as he had never seen “such awareness” in the people, and citing a reason for the awareness, he shed light on his rallies held after his removal from office.
