PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan has accused his political opponents of engaging in the fifth-generation warfare against him.
In an exclusive interview with a private news channel, Imran claimed that the ruling coalition had hired companies to produce “fake videos” to tarnish his reputation.
“They [the coalition parties] attack because these families have been involved in corruption for the last 35 years,” he said.
Accusing the Sharif family of engaging in “mafia politics”, Imran revealed that “the Sharif family is preparing to launch a campaign against me after Eid. Now that the Eid is over, you will see that they are fully prepared.” Imran said the Sharif family was “known” to engage in character-assassination of political opponents by hiring marketing companies to produce questionable content.
“Instead of responding to the theft of billions of rupees, the Sharif family will focus on immorality,” Imran said, adding that they had previously pursued a fake case against his ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith.
“What was Jemima’s crime? She was my wife. Now they have Farah Khan because she is close to Bushra Bibi.” he added.
Imran’s remarks come in light of the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) inquiry against Farah for accumulating “illegal assets beyond known sources of income, money laundering, and maintaining various accounts in the name of businesses”.
In a statement, the NAB had said: “A huge turnover amounting to Rs847 million has been found in [Farah’s] account during the last three years, which does not commensurate with her stated account profile.”
The ousted premier added that 60 per cent of the incumbent cabinet was out on bail, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son, Chief Minister of Punjab Hamza Shehbaz.
“What defense do they have?” he asked, adding that in a democracy they would be required to produce an answer to the allegations against them and would not be allowed to hold office.
He added that the Sharif “mafia” had created “tapes” similar to the ones of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar and late Judge Arshad Malik.
“I only want the nation to understand that if you want to smear anyone’s name, there are companies that can help you to achieve this,” the ex-premier stated.
“This is mafia style. I only want the nation to understand that if you want to smear anyone’s name, there are companies that can help you to achieve this.”
He added that the PTI had announced its long march to Islamabad by the end of May due to which the Sharifs wanted to lower his respect in the eyes of the public and assassinate his character.
“But they have been doing this before too. This is not something new.”
Earlier in the day, Imran announced that he would be kicking off his campaign for “true freedom” from Friday (today) by staging a rally in Mianwali.
In a video message, he said that he would be coming to Mianwali before Maghrib prayers. He stated that this campaign was part of the movement to rid the country of the “imported government”.
“I am starting with the people that got me elected to the National Assembly for the first time,” he said, calling on citizens to participate in the rally.
