Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said that legal proceedings against Imran Khan will be initiated within 2-3 weeks for bloody violence that erupted after the former premier's arrest in a corruption case on May 9.
Khan, the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, has denied his involvement in the violence, saying he was in jail when the incidents took place. He has said that the establishment plans to keep him in jail for 10 years in a sedition case.
Sanaullah in an interview with the Geo News on Saturday night said Khan was “100 per cent” responsible for the violent protests.
The arrest of Khan by paramilitary personnel from the Islamabad High Court premises on May 9 triggered unrest in Pakistan, leading to several deaths and dozens of military and state installations being destroyed by the angry PTI protesters.
“Whatever had happened in Pakistan…the hatred in Pakistani politics; the chaos in Pakistan politics; the economic deterioration in Pakistan; and the instability in the country: only one person is the architect of all this. His name is Imran Khan,” he said.
The minister said that Khan injected poison into the youth and they are not ready to accept anything less than the death of political opponents.
“Khan is responsible for all this. But as far as action is concerned, see there is a process…First of all, the criminal carrying out an illegal act is arrested. Then with evidence the actual mastermind is traced,” he said.
Sanaullah also claimed that the government is well aware of the fact who was behind the mayhem of May 9, but waiting for more evidence.
When asked about how long it may take to complete the investigation to begin formal legal proceedings against Khan, the minister said that “it will take two to three weeks.” When asked why he was naming Khan for involvement in violence on May 9 without having proper evidence, the minister said there was still enough evidence to point him out.
When asked if there was any prior planning for the attacks on installations, the minister said, “Yes, 100 per cent planning; 100 per cent planning” and added that it was planned to the minutest detail of “who will do what”.
He said the authorities were getting vital information from the people arrested and it had come to light that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders Yasmin Rashid, Mehmood ur Rasheed, Hammad Azhar and others were involved in the attack on the Corps Commander's house, known as Jinnah House, in Lahore. Sanaullah earlier said that the former prime minister could be tried in a military court as the PTI chief was the "architect" of the May 9 incidents.
Imran Khan on Thursday said that the stage has been set for his "court martial" after the country's all-powerful army vowed to try the "masterminds and planners" of the May 9 violence in military courts.
Khan, a cricketer-turned-politician, was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.
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