Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari took Imran Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), to task for the allegations he made against Asif Ali Zardari.
Tweeting from his official account, the foreign minister minced no words while responding to Imran Khan’s statement that former President Asif Ali Zardari was plotting to assassinate him.
Bilawal wrote that after terrorist outfits called him and his party out by name in direct threats, Imran Khan has now made false accusations against his father.
“These statements increase threats to my father, my family and my party. We take them seriously given our history,” tweeted Bilawal, whose mother, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was killed in a terrorist attack in 2007.
“We are exploring legal responses to Imran latest defamatory and dangerous accusations. In the past he threatened my father that he was ‘in the crosshairs of his gun’. His and his associates history as both sympathisers and facilitators of terrorists are well documented”, said Bilawal.
“Imran must realize every time his wife has a dream he cannot just come on tv and make accusations about people. Her dreams won’t stand up in court,” said Bilawal taking a jibe at the former First Lady, Bushra Bibi.
“His latest accusation that my family has any association to a terrorist organization or that we would employ them to cause him harm not only defies logic but exposes us all to an increased threat.”
Stating that PPP will challenge Imran, Bilawal said that populist fiction cannot be allowed to dominate our discourse, poison our politics and damage our democracy. “We will not tolerate being victims of terrorist and put up with propaganda from their political front men.”
Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif tweeted, “Imran Niazi’s baseless & dangerous allegations against former President Asif Ali Zardari are not only irresponsible but also conform to a pattern of conspiracy theories meant to spread venom against his political opponents.”
“Such nonsensical rhetoric is an attempt to remain politically relevant. The whole nation knows how he has used politics of hatred to divide the society for the sake of power.”
Adviser to the Prime Minister, Qamar Zaman Kaira, also responded to Imran Khan’s accusations, stating that PPP will not let Imran Khan off the hook for alleging that former Asif Ali Zardari plotted to kill him.
Imran Khan had alleged on Friday in a televised speech that PPP Co-Chairman Zardari was plotting and financing an assassination attempt for which the ex-president had hired terrorists.
Kaira, a PPP stalwart, rejected the allegations as “atrocious”. He said that the allegations had gone beyond lies, promising that PPP won’t spare Imran Khan.
“A former prime minister talks about his alleged assassination plan. The court should order an investigation. If his allegations are genuine, then those responsible should be brought to the book. If the allegations are proven untrue, Imran should be punished,” said Kaira while speaking on Geo News programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada kay Sath.
PPP leader Kasim Gillani also spoke up tweeting, “The absolutely vile, slanderous and defamatory allegations by Imran Khan against President Asif Zardari will be responded to robustly and legally.”
Khan had claimed that four people orchestrated a plan “behind closed doors” to assassinate him.
“I got to know about it and then I recorded a video explaining the attack. In a public rally, I announced that I would release the video if something happened to me. They stepped back after this,” said Khan.
Without naming anyone again, Khan said that another plan was made to have me killed by a religious extremist — hinting towards the November 3, 2022, Wazirabad attack, where he was shot in the legs and is still recovering from the injuries.
“Now, there’s a Plan C. Asif Zardari is behind it. He has amassed a lot of money through corruption, invested that money with terrorists and hired a militant organisation.”
