Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has claimed that the intelligence agencies have intercepted a conversation indicating that Imran Khan’s party was hatching a plot to defame law enforcement authorities.
Addressing a hastily staged press conference on Saturday night, Sanaullah alleged that the objective of the move was to falsely implicate the law-enforcement agencies in the crime and subsequently raise the issue at the international level.
“The country’s agencies intercepted a conversation revealing disturbing plots and planned actions, including a raid on the PTI leader’s house and a staged rape,” the interior minister claimed.
Sanaullah, however, did not provide proof to substantiate his claims. Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, hit back at Sanaullah on Sunday, saying the minister was “so obviously” trying to cover up “horror stories” about to break in the media. “If there were any doubts about women being mistreated in jails, this press conference from this certified criminal should remove all such doubts,” Khan tweeted.
“Women have never been so mistreated and harassed by the state as they have been by this fascist govt when they were exercising their right to protest peacefully,” he added.
Over 60 leaders from Khan’s party have parted ways after the May 9 incidents.
The prominent leaders who have quit the party include Secretary General Asad Umar, senior leader Fawad Chaudhry and former minister Shireen Mazari.
On Saturday, Imran Ismail, the former Sindh governor Khan’s close aide parted ways with PTI, hours after an anti-terrorism court ordered his release from prison.