PTI chief Imran Khan, who is considered “fearless and competitive” among his supporters, has claimed that he does not need any reason to accuse the incumbent government and a senior military official of orchestrating an apparent assassination attempt on his life

“You don’t need to accuse people of assassination so that you get more popular in this country,” he said in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson on Monday. “We know what is happening.”

Anderson, who hosts Connect the World, pressed Imran to provide evidence of government involvement in the shooting during a more than 10 minutes interview. Quoting Imran’s critics, she said that the former premier’s claims about the Wazirabad incident supported his political endeavours.

Imran supported his claims by speaking about the 2014 Model Town incident in which 14 people were killed and over 100 injured during an anti-encroachment operation. Incumbent PM Shehbaz was serving as chief minister of Punjab when it happened.

“We know how this evidence… how this whole plot opened up. We know how… who made the video from where it went to which journalist. How it was orchestrated and then the cover-up that is taking place,” he said.

Imran and agency insiders

As the host continued to ask the former premier to substantiate his claims, Imran reminded the Anderson of his September 24 speech. He claimed that he would be killed by a religious fanatic because of blasphemy and the government would blame the perpetrator.

“Remember, three and a half years I was in power. I have connections with intelligence agencies, the different agencies that operate. How did I get the information? From within the intelligence agencies. Why? Because most people are appalled by what is going on in this country.”

Ban on speeches

According to Imran, the clampdown on media in Pakistan was unprecedented. He added that journalist Arshad Sharif, who was killed in Kenya, was going to “expose” the whole plot that took place against him.

“He [Arshad] was hounded out of Pakistan. He ended up to going Dubai, from where he went to Kenya where he was killed.”

To a query on the government’s step to reverse PEMRA’s decision to ban his speeches, Imran said: “On what basis they would ban me? They would not stand in any court of law and by the way as a person, who was about to be assassinated how come I cannot name those people whom I am suspicious about who planned this attempt on me.”

He also spoke about the treatment meted out to his aides Shahbaz Gill and Senator Azam Swati in custody.

“Both blamed a senior intelligence officer who was responsible for their torture,” he said, alleging that “all efforts” were under way to somehow disqualify and exclude him from the political arena, adding that the failure of those attempts led to the Wazirabad attack.

“They tried everything to somehow get me out of the way. When that didn’t happen, this was planned.”