Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan urged chief justice Umar Atta Bandial to allow him to join court proceedings through a video link in cases lodged against him, claiming he could be killed if he deposes physically. In a letter to Bandial, the Pakistan Tejreek-e-Insaaf chief also requested him to club the cases registered against him.
Addressing the nation on Monday, the ousted leader claimed that a death trap was laid out at the court complex in Islamabad on Saturday where he had to attend a hearing in the Toshakhana gifts case. He further claimed that around 20 unknown peeople, in an apparent reference to intelligence agencies men, were present in the complex to kill him.
Khan also shared a footage of the court complex swarmed by police personnel, claiming that the plan was to “eliminate” him by staging a fight.
“The scenes I was confronted with as I entered the gates of Judicial Complex. Let there be no doubt that this force along with the ‘Unknowns’ – namaloom afraad – were there not to put me in jail but to eliminate me by staging a mock fight & pretending my death was an accident,” he said in a tweet. “Allah, the Greatest Protector, had other plans.”
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf alleged these men planned to strangulate Khan with the rope they were holding.
The PTI chief requested the chief justice to probe as how these “unknown people” managed to enter the high security zone (judicial complex). “In fact they were stationed there to kill me.”
“If I keep being exposed like this then it won’t take too long for them to kill me,” Khan said.