Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
No ‘naya’ Pakistan as age-old politics plague country
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan on Thursday named Pakistan’s prime minister and two other top leaders for the attempt on his life, according to statement from Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) secretary-general Asad Umar.
In a video statement, Umar said Khan believed that PM Shehbaz Sharif and intelligence official Major-General Faisal Naseer were behind the attack. Umar did not provide any evidence to back the allegation.
Information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb did not respond to a request for comment. The military’s media wing did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegation against Naseer.
Pakistan has been grappling with Islamist militants for decades, and politicians are frequently targeted by assassination attempts.
The attack on Khan had echoes of the 2007 assassination of another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, the first democratically elected female leader of a Muslim country, who died when a huge bomb detonated near her vehicle in Rawalpindi. Just months earlier she had survived another attempt on her life, when her motorcade was targeted in Karachi, killing more than 130 people. Her father and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in the same city in 1979 after being deposed by a military coup.
Khan was voted into power in 2018 on an anti-graft platform ‘Naya Pakistan’ by an electorate tired of dynastic politics. But his mishandling of the economy and falling out with a military accused of helping his rise sealed his fate. Since then, he has railed against the present government, which he says, was imposed on Pakistan by a “conspiracy” involving the US.
The shooting underscored the growing political instability in Pakistan, with both the government and Khan refusing to back down from their positions.
Khan initially enjoyed excellent ties with his army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. But, he resisted the appointment of a new spy chief by Bajwa who wanted to replace Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, the director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence. Eventually, Bajwa removed Khan’s favourite spy chief Hameed, which caused a rift between Khan and Bajwa and it eventually led to his ouster.
The military has directly ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 75 years.