Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the “establishment” had given him three options: “resignation, no-confidence [vote] or elections”, following the filing of a no-confidence motion against him in the National Assembly.
“We said election is the best option, I cannot even think about resigning and as far as the no-confidence vote is concerned, I believe in fighting till the end,” he said.
Pointing out that several members of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had defected to the opposition ahead of the no-trust vote, the premier explained that even if the opposition’s no-trust move failed, “We cannot run the government with such people (defectors).”
So, he said, “it will be better for Pakistan if we hold elections again.”
He also claimed that those conspiring to topple his government were “scared knowing that even if he is ousted, the public will continue to support him”.
“They, all those who have colluded [against me], know that I will not sit silently,” the prime minister went on, adding, “What do they think? They will spend Rs20 billion, Rs25 billion and topple my government and I will watch silently?”
“This is why I am saying openly, there is a threat to my life.”
The prime minister revealed that he was aware of the “conspiracy” being hatched to oust his government since August last year.
“I had an idea since August and I also knew that planning was ongoing in London,” he said, adding that he had also informed his cabinet back then that the coming “winter would be a very difficult time for us”.
He said he also had reports from agencies in this regard, as he went to name PML-N supremo as one of the persons involved in the conspiracy.
“He (Nawaz Sharif) was meeting people, people like Hussain Haqqani […] who was involved in memogate. They were in constant touch,” he alleged, claiming that Nawaz had held the last meeting in this regard on March 3. “And we received this document (a letter he claims has evidence of a foreign conspiracy to topple his government) on March 7.”
