Islamabad: A day after he was shot at in Pakistan’s Punjab province, the country’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Friday, broke silence on the attack and said he was “hit by four bullets.”
In the first address to the nation, since his assassination attempt on Thursday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief dismissed reports that he was hit by friendly fire, saying he was “hit by four bullets.”
“A day before going to the rally, I knew that assassination was being planned against me either in Wazirabad or Gujrat,” Khan said, as he explained the sequence of events during a televised address while still being admitted at a hospital in Lahore.
He repeated the foreign conspiracy claims against the US over his government’s independent foreign policy.
The 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician was ousted from power in April this year, by a vote of confidence.
Khan said his government would have never lost the no-trust move. “…But they (the coalition leaders) used the money to become successful,” he said.
He dismissed both the foreign funding cases and Toshakhana cases, lodged against him, are mere tactics to subdue him.
On Thursday, PTI chief Imran Khan was attacked near his container in Punjab province during his long march in Wazirabad.
Khan sustained injuries on his leg and was shifted to a hospital for treatment.
The PTI leaders said that Imran Khan’s condition is stable and he is out of danger. Earlier, the police said that seven people were injured and a person was killed during the firing incident.
The suspected shooter who opened fire during the rally was caught by police where he admitted that he wanted to kill Imran Khan because “he was misleading the public.”
“I thought of this as there was Azaan going on and on the other side, Imran Khan is taking out his container and making noise. My conscience did not approve of this. I decided this suddenly… I conspired against Imran Khan when he kicked off his long march from Lahore. I made up my mind that I will not leave him alive,” the shooter said in a video shared on social media.
Answering questions on any accomplices, the shooter said, “I have conspired this alone and no one else is involved in this. I came on a bike and I parked it at my uncle’s shop. He has a motorcycle showroom.”
Hours after the assassination attempt against Imran Khan, people held protests in front of the Corps Commander House in Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
(With Agency Inputs)