Former information minister and senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Fawad Chaudhry said on Sunday that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s comments against PTI chief Imran Khan were a direct threat to his life, Aaj News reported.
In an interview with PNN, Sanaullah said Imran Khan was “not a mere political rival” of the PML-N but an “enemy” and that the hostilities between the two political parties had reached a point where only one of the two could survive.
“In my opinion, Imran does not believe in democracy and democratic traditions. He does not believe in having a peaceful political environment in this country. He has turned politics into enmity. He considers us his enemies while we used to regard him as our political rival,” he said, adding that things had come to a point where PML-N also considered him its enemy.
“Democratic traditions, timely elections, and rights and wrongs are a part of democracy and politics but not during an enmity,” the interior minister added. “He [Imran] says that we want to murder him, so if we’re going to murder him, he also wants to murder us.”
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“Either he or us will get murdered. He has now taken the country’s politics to a point where only one of the two can remain.”
Sanaullah said that if his party’s entire existence were at stake, then they would go to any length, explaining that in those circumstances, it would become irrelevant to think “what can or cannot be done, if something is democratic or not, if something is principled or not.”
When asked if there was a way out and whether Imran’s arrest could ease the hostilities, the interior minister said the matter had escalated to no return. “Either their politics will end, or ours will.”
After video clips of the interview circulated online, Fawad said in a statement that Sanaullah’s remarks were a direct threat to Imran Khan.
“Are you running a gang or are you doing politics?” the PTI leader asked rhetorically in a separate press conference, adding that the Supreme Court was “absolutely right” in calling the PML-N the “Sicilian mafia”.
Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari also reacted strongly to his statements, saying the interior minister had expressed his murderous intentions towards Imran Khan.
“If anyone had any doubts about Rana Sana’s murderous intent towards Imran Khan, this is a direct threat given by cabal of crooks’ interior minister. The judiciary should take note,” she tweeted.
Reacting to his comment, Murad Saeed said that the government had already withdrawn Imran Khan’s security and had now written to the private firm to remove his security.
“The professional criminal, who was made the interior minister of the country, is now openly talking about eliminating Imran Khan,” he wrote on Twitter.
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