Imran Khan was his confident and passionate self the day after a grenade attack at a rally he’d just finished addressing, in the Frontier region, claimed the life of one policeman and sent many (security personnel and civilians) to hospital.
Pakistan’s solitary World Cup-winning captain has been after the Establishment for years and, as a result, has made life miserable for most of the entrenched politicians.
“I was leaving the venue in Swabi, when grenades were hurled… I wasn’t the target, but some of my party workers are in hospital… An inquiry is on and I’m waiting for the report. Right now, I don’t wish to speculate on the identity of the attackers,” Imran, chairman of the Tehreek-e-Insaf, told The Telegraph.
According to observers, Imran’s rally attracted around 40,000 supporters, a record for the Swabi area, which is about 80 kms from the provincial capital Peshawar.
Owing to the unprecedented rush, the rally began two hours late, throwing everything out of gear. Clearly, the police arrangements weren’t up to scratch.
Speaking from Karachi on Saturday afternoon, minutes after arriving from Islamabad for a series of programmes in Pakistan’s commercial capital, Imran added: “There’s no change in my engagements… I have a mission and I am working towards it…
“Only recently, I’d said that you cannot live life fearing death… That’s what I believe in… You think Benazir (Bhutto) didn’t have security? Yet, she was assassinated (in December 2007).”
Imran’s mission is to see the end of Asif Ali Zardari’s innings as President and the end of Yusuf Raza Gilani’s Prime Ministership.
With the Supreme Court deciding to start contempt-of-court proceedings against Gilani, from Monday, the Prime Minister’s days appear numbered.
“That does seem so… Gilani is more interested in protecting Zardari’s $ 60 million in Swiss banks instead of doing his bit to end corruption… The country isn’t his priority… I don’t see this Prime Minister surviving (the crisis),” Imran pointed out.
Gilani is in the dock for not pursuing cases of corruption against Zardari (Benazir’s widower), derisively called ‘Mr Ten Per Cent’ from long before be became the President.
Imran, who twice refused an invitation from Pervez Musharraf to become the Prime Minister, when the former general was calling the shots, is convinced that the Tehreek will sweep the next elections.
The Tehreek came into being in April 1996, when Benazir was the Prime Minister.
Elections aren’t due till next February, but much depends on what happens to Gilani once the contempt proceedings begin.
Imran is a former member of the National Assembly. He won from native Mianwali in 2002, but boycotted the last elections, in February 2008.
Meanwhile, the second Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, after the one in Lahore, is going to open in Peshawar, not Karachi.
“That’s because the land provided by the Sindh government is too far from the city centre… The land in Peshawar is better located and the architectural design is ready,” Imran explained.
The award-winning Lahore facility, built in memory of Imran’s mother, has been functioning for over a decade-and-a-half.
Thanks Telegraph