Imran fears being poisoned like witnesses in graft case against PM Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD, Aug 18 (NNI): Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday expressed fear that he might be ‘poisoned’ like the people who were witness in corruption case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who died mysteriously of heart attacks in a span of two months.
He was addressing a seminar in Islamabad in which he said corruption is a symptom of absence of rule of law. In the later part of his speech, the former prime minister talked about treatment with PTI leader Shahbaz Gill in jail. He claimed that Gill was stripped naked and tortured.
All this is arm-twisting to persuade Gill what he said (on a private TV channel) was at Khan’s behest, he added. He said that Gill was asked during the investigation what Khan eats.
“These [erratic] questions were not asked because they care about my diet.” But, the ex-PM said that four witnesses in Rs16 corruption case against Shehbaz Sharif died of heart attack in a span of two months.
They knew what those people used to eat and this is how they were disposed of, Khan said.
Imran Khan said that what Gill said could be perceived wrong but there were more blazing anti-military statements given by Maryam Nawaz, Fazlur Rehman and others who did not face any action.
PTI chairman said all this is being done to frighten people to accept the people who looted the country for three decades.
Earlier in his speech, he said that he always thought the country’s establishment would care more about Pakistan than the corrupt politicians. However, Imran Khan said he tries to learn from his mistakes.
The ex-PM said that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was not under his control but somebody else had the ‘accelerator’ who controlled the proceedings of corruption cases against his opponents. He criticized the two-party rule in Pakistan which was prevalent before PTI came into power in 2018.
Imran Khan said the fight against corruption could not be fought solely, but it was a collective duty of society. He said PML-N and PPP made corruption cases against each other. He added that it was media’s job to criticize the government but questioned how it could remain silent against individuals who had multi-billion corruption cases on them.
The ex-PM said the nation would never forget the role of establishment which let crooks take power by ‘acting neutral’. “Didn’t they know that those people [current rulers] were looting the country for last 30 years? Didn’t they inform us about their [rulers] corruption?”
He once again expressed the possibility that he would be disqualified. This could be used as a bargaining chip to provide a level playing field to Nawaz Sharif – who was disqualified for life.