Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has termed former Prime Minister Imran Khan as an ‘enemy’ of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), saying that “he (Imran) has brought the country’s politics to such a point where Either they will be killed or we will be”.
The remarks by the senior PML-N leader, who is very close to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has triggered outrage in political circles, especially Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Khan was attacked and shot during a rally in Punjab’s Wazirabad in November last year but survived the attack.
Khan blamed Rana Sanaullah for this attack on him. Khan, 70, had also named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a senior official of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in an application for the FIR, alleging his involvement in the assassination plot.
In an interview given to some private TV channel on Sunday, Sanaullah said, “Either Imran Khan or we will be killed.” He has now taken the country’s politics to a point where only one of the two can remain – PTI or PMLN. The entire existence of PMLN is in danger and we can go to any extent against them to settle scores with them. Khan has turned politics into enmity. Khan is now our enemy and will be treated as such.
When asked whether such remarks could lead to anarchy in Pakistan, the minister said, “Anarchy is already prevailing in Pakistan.”
Reacting strongly to Sanaullah’s statement, PTI leader and former federal information minister Fawad Chaudhry said, “This is a direct death threat to Khan from the PMLN coalition government.”
He said, “Sanaullah is running the gang or the government? The Supreme Court was right in declaring Sharif-led PMLN a mafia and his statement is proof of that.” PTI has also urged the Supreme Court to take cognizance of this as it is an open threat to kill Khan.
