Imran Khan accuses Maryam Nawaz of hatching plot to kill him through 'religious fanatic'

Lahore: Pakistan's ousted prime minister Imran Khan on Monday accused senior politician Maryam Nawaz of propagating "sectarianism and religious hatred" against him and hatching a plot to kill him through a "religious fanatic".

Khan also said Maryam, the daughter of former premier Nawaz Sharif, is so desperate that she is also making sure that he is disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the Toshakhana case for not disclosing the information regarding the gifts received from the state depository in his assets declaration.

“Maryam Nawaz along with her accomplices propagated sectarianism and religious hatred against me to make a ground that any religious fanatic gets motivated and kill me,” Khan, 69, said during his address with businessmen here.

“I am not afraid of death as it will be decided by Allah (God) and none else,” the 69-year-old cricketer-turned-politician said.

In a rally in Rahim Yar Khan, some 400 kms from Lahore, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman last Saturday had also talked about the conspiracy to kill him.

“Four people had decided behind ‘closed doors’ to get me killed,” he claimed.

Earlier, Maryam, a senior Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader, had uploaded two purported statements of Imran Khan and as many verses of the Quran on her Twitter account to draw a comparison between them.

“This man (Imran) is using religion for his politics and promoting his false narrative. Save your faith and the country from this Satan," she said.

Last week, the Punjab Police booked two federal ministers, as well as two senior officials of state-run PTV on terrorism charges for allegedly fanning religious hatred against Khan and endangering his life.

The FIR was filed against Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Federal Minister Mian Javed Latif, PTV Managing Director Sohail Khan, as well as the broadcaster’s Controller Programmes, Rashid Baig, on the complaint of a local leader.

They were booked under Section 9 (punishment for acts intended or likely to stir up sectarian hatred) and Section 11X(3) (responsibility for creating civil commotion) of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.

Latif had declared Khan a “non-Muslim and “supporter of minority Ahmadi community.” Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the Ahmadi community as non-Muslims. A decade later, they were banned from calling themselves Muslims. They are banned from preaching and from travelling to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage.