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LAHORE (Reuters) – Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday told the Lahore High Court that a third assassination attempt had been staged against him and sought to have all political cases against him dismissed, saying his regular court appearances would endanger his life.
Khan filed a petition in the LHC asking him to drop all the 121 cases registered against him in different cities of the country on various charges such as treason, blasphemy, committing and instigating violence and terrorism.
According to the petition, the cases were built along political lines.
Khan, 71, appeared in front of the Large Hadron Collider amid tight security. During the hearing, he asked the court to allow him to speak.
The court granted his request.
Khan, the head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told the court that his life was in danger.
A judicial official said, “A regular appearance in the courts would endanger my life. I survived two assassination attempts – one in Wazirabad, Punjab, and the other in the Islamabad Judicial Complex where the ISI took charge of the building.” PTI quoted Khan as saying.
“They (referring to the powers that be) want to kill me and a third assassination attempt is imminent,” Khan told the court.
He said that in the 70 years of his life, there was not a single case against him and all these cases were filed after his removal from the premiership in April last year.
The official said the LHC’s five-member court panel headed by Judge Ali Baqer Najafi directed Khan to join the police investigation into these cases on May 5.
“Khan’s request to appear before the police investigation via video link was not considered by the court. However, the court will resume the hearing on May 8,” the official said.
Earlier, Khan claimed to have identified a total of “six people” in the country in a videotape who wanted to kill him.
“Out of the six, there are three whom I mentioned in the FIR after the attempt on my life in Punjab in November last year,” Khan said on Thursday.
After the November 3 armed attack on his gathering in Wazirabad district (about 150 km from Lahore) during which he was shot in the leg, Khan blamed Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Home Minister Rana Sanaullah and Pakistani intelligence officer Major General Faisal Naseer for the spawning. . plot to assassinate him.
“Home Minister (Sanaullah) says my life is threatened by foreign agencies. Let me make it clear to the entire country that the only threat to my life is from the 3 people you named after the assassination attempt on Wazirabad. The same 3, + 3 more you identified in a video statement, tried to remove me in March 18th at the ICT Judicial Complex,” Khan said in a series of tweets.
“If any attempt is made now in my lifetime, these same people will be responsible. Just as they tried to blame the Wazirabad attack on a religious extremist – a mere smokescreen – they are now trying to create another deception of foreign agencies,” he said.
Khan filed a petition in the LHC asking him to drop all the 121 cases registered against him in different cities of the country on various charges such as treason, blasphemy, committing and instigating violence and terrorism.
According to the petition, the cases were built along political lines.
Khan, 71, appeared in front of the Large Hadron Collider amid tight security. During the hearing, he asked the court to allow him to speak.
The court granted his request.
Khan, the head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told the court that his life was in danger.
A judicial official said, “A regular appearance in the courts would endanger my life. I survived two assassination attempts – one in Wazirabad, Punjab, and the other in the Islamabad Judicial Complex where the ISI took charge of the building.” PTI quoted Khan as saying.
“They (referring to the powers that be) want to kill me and a third assassination attempt is imminent,” Khan told the court.
He said that in the 70 years of his life, there was not a single case against him and all these cases were filed after his removal from the premiership in April last year.
The official said the LHC’s five-member court panel headed by Judge Ali Baqer Najafi directed Khan to join the police investigation into these cases on May 5.
“Khan’s request to appear before the police investigation via video link was not considered by the court. However, the court will resume the hearing on May 8,” the official said.
Earlier, Khan claimed to have identified a total of “six people” in the country in a videotape who wanted to kill him.
“Out of the six, there are three whom I mentioned in the FIR after the attempt on my life in Punjab in November last year,” Khan said on Thursday.
After the November 3 armed attack on his gathering in Wazirabad district (about 150 km from Lahore) during which he was shot in the leg, Khan blamed Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Home Minister Rana Sanaullah and Pakistani intelligence officer Major General Faisal Naseer for the spawning. . plot to assassinate him.
“Home Minister (Sanaullah) says my life is threatened by foreign agencies. Let me make it clear to the entire country that the only threat to my life is from the 3 people you named after the assassination attempt on Wazirabad. The same 3, + 3 more you identified in a video statement, tried to remove me in March 18th at the ICT Judicial Complex,” Khan said in a series of tweets.
“If any attempt is made now in my lifetime, these same people will be responsible. Just as they tried to blame the Wazirabad attack on a religious extremist – a mere smokescreen – they are now trying to create another deception of foreign agencies,” he said.
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