In a significant milestone, the Pakistan Electronic Media and Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has forbidden television networks from airing or replaying speeches and press conferences by Imran Khan, the former prime minister and leader of the Pakistan Tehreeek-e-Insaf. The warning said that, ‘in case of any breach, observed licence may be stopped… without any show-cause notice in the public interest together with other enabling provisions of legislation’.
This event occurs two days after Imran Khan Khan sustained a bullet wound to the right leg while leading a protest march against the Shehbaz Sharif administration in the Wazirabad region of Punjab province. At the time, two gunmen were firing a barrage of bullets at Khan. The 70-year-old politician accused the Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, the Major General Faisal Naseer, and the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday of planning the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate him.
‘There were four murderous plans for me. I identified them in a video I produced and I have it stored overseas’,the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Khan, stated in a video address from the hospital that it would be made public if anything untoward happened to him. The Pakistan Army, meanwhile, has criticised the words of the deposed PM as ‘totally unacceptable’ and promised to fiercely safeguard its people ‘no matter what’.
Shehbaz Sharif said that Khan was a ‘liar from head to toe’ and that he was making every effort to ruin Pakistan. The prime minister declared, ‘You (Imran Khan) are driving the country towards disaster by lies…it is my obligation to prevent this devastation’. Shehbaz has further requested that a full court committee be established by the Chief Justice of Pakistan to look into Imran Khan’s claim.
The head of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) tweeted, ‘Imran Niazi frequently uses false accusations and falsehoods to foment unrest. The government has decided to ask the Chief Justice of Pakistan to appoint a full judicial panel to look into his claims. Let the populace recognise his scheme to weaken national institutions for what it is’.
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