Pakistan’s former premier Imran Khan made the dramatic claim that he could be injected with poison while in custody when he appeared before a judge in Islamabad on Wednesday, even as the powerful army warned there would be a severe retaliation to any further attacks by his supporters, describing May 9 as a “black chapter” in the country’s history.
While appearing before a judge in connection with the so-called Al-Qadir Trust case, in which the former premier has been accused of laundering funds for a real estate tycoon, Khan complained about the conditions in which he was arrested and suggested there could be a threat to his life.
Khan told the judge that law enforcement officials could “give me an injection that causes a person to die slowly”, according to Geo News channel.
“They inject you and the person dies slowly,” Khan was quoted as saying in a report on the website of Dawn newspaper.
During the hearing, Khan sought medical treatment by his personal physician, Faisal Sultan, and said he wanted to avoid the fate of a key witness in a ₹16 billion money laundering case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his family.
Malik Maqsood Ahmad or “Maqsood chaprasi” died in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of cardiac arrest in June 2022, according to a death certificate issued by Emirati authorities. However, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has expressed doubts about the nature of his death and sought an independent investigation into the matter.
In a separate development, the Pakistan Army issued a strongly worded statement in Urdu that denounced the protests by PTI supporters following Khan’s arrest. It said attacks were organised on army assets and installations and anti-army slogans were raised.
“There will be a severe retaliation to any further attacks on the army, law enforcement agencies, military and state installations by the group that wants to push Pakistan into a civil war and has repeatedly attacked them,” the statement warned.
“On the one hand, these evil elements vigorously stir up public sentiments to fulfill their limited and selfish goals and on the other hand, they do not get tired of highlighting the importance of the army for the country while putting dust in the eyes of the people,” the statement said.
“What the eternal enemy of the country could not do for 75 years, this group wearing a political cloak has done in the lust for power,” it said. “No one can be allowed to incite people and take the law into their hands.”
May 9 will be remembered as a “black chapter” in history due to the protestors “targeting army property and installations” after the arrest of Khan, it said.
The army said it has shown “extreme patience, tolerance and restraint, without caring for its reputation”. The army’s “mature response thwarted this conspiracy. We are well aware that behind this are the orders and directives of some evil leadership of the party. There was and is complete pre-planning.”
“The facilitators, planners and political activists involved in these operations have been identified and strict action will be taken against them as per the law and all these evil elements will now be responsible for the consequences,” the statement added.
Khan’s dramatic arrest on Tuesday deepened the political turmoil and sparked violent protests across Pakistan. Khan’s party has claimed that at least four people were killed and over a dozen injured in different parts of the country in violent clashes between the security forces and PTI supporters.
Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan. He is the only Pakistani prime minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
