PPP will issue legal notice to ex-PM Imran over allegations against Zardari
ISLAMABAD, Jan 28 (SABAH): The Pakistan People’s Party on Saturday announced plans to send a legal notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan after he claimed that PPP co-chair Asif Ali Zardari was involved in creating a new plot to assassinate him.
Addressing the media persons, PPP leaders Farhatullah Babar, Nayyar Bukhari, and Qamar Zaman Kaira criticised Imran over his allegations. According to the PPP members, the former premier had lost his mind and the party would issue a legal notice demanding he rescinds his allegations.
Bukhari stated the PPP maintained that the accusations by Imran were baseless and a lie.
“Imran Khan has politically died regarding his political thinking and political character. He is afflicted with depression and panic,” he said, adding that in his panic, Imran blamed institutions including the establishment, the Election Commission of Pakistan and the former chief of army staff.
Kaira stated that Imran’s politics involved throwing opponents in jail, character assassination, disrespect and spreading panic. He added that Imran’s politics were a tenant of fascism, and his governance was not democratic.
“This is not an empty blame, Imran has made a very specific blame that our leaders paid terrorist factions and that intelligence agencies were involved in the conspiracy,” he said. The PPP leader demanded that Imran present his information and evidence.
According to Kaira, this was not a mere defamation case and Imran’s words could instigate PTI workers to act against PPP leadership.
“Imran fundamentally wants to fight. He is trying to escape as his politics shrink”. He added that the PPP would fulfil its political and legal responsibilities, but requested the judiciary to investigate the matter and hold the perpetrator responsible, regardless of political affiliations.
“If Imran does not provide evidence to support his allegations, action should be taken against him,” he stated.
Kaira continued that the PPP leadership had expressed their grievances after the Wazirabad attack against Imran and had asked the courts to investigate the matter. However, he furthered, Imran’s own provincial government formed a joint investigation team (JIT) and continuously changed the chief.
“The final report, presented by a person the PPP did not support, highlighted that the perpetrator in the Wazirabad attack was acting on his own accord,” he said.
“The Supreme Court should take notice of Imran’s allegations, bring them to a conclusion and punish whoever is in the wrong,” he said, adding that the allegations were an attempt to ruin the remaining reputation of Pakistan which the PPP would “not permit”.
He furthered that Imran claimed there would be chaos if he was arrested, however, no one had been arrested under the PDM rule. He maintained that PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry was arrested on a notice from the ECP.
“I condemn the media factions who debated on whether the government ordered the ECP to send the notice for Fawad’s arrest. Fawad himself spoke out against the ECP,” Kaira clarified.
The PPP leader continued that the incumbent government would have arrested Imran if they wanted to, through fake cases which he dubbed a strategy of the PTI chief.
“He has gathered workers outside his residence to evade arrest. He used to claim everyone is equal before the law, therefore he should come out and face the law”.
Former senate chair Nayyar Bukhari added that the PPP’s legal team would send a legal notice and do everything constitutionally and lawfully.
“The PPP has been a target of the [terrorist] factions Imran claims we are involved with,” Bukhari said. He maintained that Imran was involved with the aforementioned factions, which is why he was called “Taliban Khan”.
On Friday last, holding a news conference from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore via a video link, Imran Khan termed the alleged conspiracy ‘Plan-C’ for which he accused Zardari of paying money to a terrorist outfit to carry out the assassination attempt on his life.
“Now they have made a Plan C, and Asif Zardari is behind this. He has loads of corruption money, which he loots from the Sindh government and spends on winning elections. He [Zardari] has given money to a terrorist outfit and people from powerful agencies are facilitating him,” Imran alleged.
“This has been decided on three fronts and they will act soon,” he added. “I am telling you this because if something happens to me the nation should know the people, who were behind this so that the nation never forgives them,” he said.
Referring to the gun attack on him in Wazirabad in November last year, Imran further claimed that there was a plot to kill him under ‘Plan-B’ in the name of religious extremism. “They almost succeeded in their plan to kill me but now they are moving towards Plan-C,” he added.