Pakistan: Former PM Imran Khan claims another attempts on his life in jail

Pakistan’s incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan has claimed yet another attempt on his life may be made through “slow poisoning” in jail because he has refused to leave the country. “Since I won’t agree to leave my country, there is, of course, a danger they (a reference to powerful quarters of the country) will try to make (yet) another attempt on my life while I am in jail. Such an attempt could also be through slow poisoning, Khan said in his message shared by his family and posted from his X account on Friday.

Khan, 71, has been in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi in the Cipher case. Stating that at the moment, he is physically fit, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief added: “I would know if my body was experiencing change from weakness. But they have already made two public attempts to take my life.” Khan’s claim through the X post comes on a day when a court in Pakistan rejected his petitions seeking bail and cancellation of the first FIR in the cipher case. Khan was arrested in August after a case was filed against him for disclosing a secret diplomatic cable (cipher) sent by the country’s embassy in Washington in March last year. A special court in Pakistan on Monday indicted him along with his close ally and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the case. Further claiming that all the cases against him are completely bogus and politically motivated, Khan said, those cases have been concocted only to keep me in jail for certain (time) till after the elections or maybe much longer beyond the elections. He said during the last few days, the country has witnessed a total mockery of the law and repeated an accusation he has often levelled against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and three-time premier Nawaz Sharif. All that is happening today is not just an execution of a London plan, the post on X said, adding, a London agreement was signed between a cowardly fugitive & a corrupt criminal and his facilitators (a reference to the elements in the military establishment). The only way a convicted criminal (Sharif) could be allowed to return to politics with a clean chit is by destroying State institutions. And hence, what we are witnessing is a complete collapse of our justice system, Khan further said in the X post. Sharif returned to Pakistan on October 21 after four years of self-exile in London. Khan said the growing political awareness and increasing resistance against closed-room conspiracies in his nation scares them. “Our struggle is entering its decisive phase. You will have to fight for your own rights and your country’s freedom. I have directed my lawyers and party office bearers to hold conventions all over the country and also commence the campaign for whenever elections are held,” Khan urged as he concluded the post. Earlier on May 2 this year, Khan had told the Lahore High Court (LHC) that a third assassination attempt had been hatched against him and sought to quash all political cases against him, saying regular court appearances would endanger his life. The statement to the court came months after the November 3, 2022 gun attack on his rally in the Wazirabad area (some 150 kms from Lahore) in which he suffered bullet injuries to his leg.