Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed has made headlines for reportedly saying that anything can happen over the next four months, including an attempt on his life or that of some other prominent person.
“Anything can happen within the next four months… February 20 is the date… everything will be sorted…” reports quoted Rasheed as saying.
“Some terrorist attack could happen, coronavirus could spread again, the [Pakistan] People’s Party (PPP) could break away from the [opposition] alliance, I could get killed or so could some other prominent person,” the minister reportedly said, adding that if something of the sort happens, it could lead to a civil war in the country.
“Plans to ignite a sectarian fire were foiled when law enforcement acted promptly ahead Chehlum of martyrs of Karbala last week as well,” he said.
The minister also spoke at length about the possibility of a terrorist attack and how every person’s life was in danger.
The minister’s statement comes while investigators remain clueless about the perpetrators of the high-profile targeted killing of prominent religious scholar Maulana Adil Khan, who along with his driver, was shot dead in Karachi on Saturday.
According to police, the scholar was sitting in a Toyota Vigo parked outside Shama Shopping Centre when suspects on motorcycles came up to him and opened fire. He succumbed to the wounds on his way to the hospital.
While authorities claim foreign powers were at play, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has described it as “an attempt by India to create sectarian conflict across the country”.
The premier, while strongly condemning the targeted killing of Maulana Adil of Jamia Farooqia in Karachi, said that India is attempting to target religious scholars to fan sectarian rift in the country.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, he stressed upon the religious scholars from all sects to ensure that people do not fall prey to nefarious Indian designs to destabilise Pakistan by fuelling a sectarian conflict.
“We have prevented a number of such attempts pre-emptively in the last few months. Our intelligence organisations and law enforcement agencies will nab culprits of this murder also,” he said.
