Former prime minister Imran Khan has urged his supporters to be ready for street protests after unidentified individuals attacked the party’s information secretary, Raoof Hassan, with a blade on Tuesday.
“We must now be ready to practically struggle against this fascist mafia. I instruct all of you—my central party leadership, central, provincial, and local party organization members, workers, supporters, and the common man—to wait for my street agitation call,” Khan said in a statement shared by the PTI on X on Wednesday.
His statement came a day after Hassan was attacked by unidentified people in Islamabad as he was leaving a news channel’s office.
The party has called for a judicial commission to investigate the attack, with Hassan describing it as an “assassination attempt.” Quoting Imran Khan, the party said it would start countrywide protests if such attacks on their leaders continue.
“The impact of such demonstrations will be on the corrupt government,” a PTI leader stated, rejecting the first information report (FIR) registered by Islamabad police for the attack.
In his message, Khan claimed that PTI has faced political persecution with impunity over the past two years in Pakistan. He alleged that the party was subjected to the prohibited war tool of collective punishment.
“For the sake of Pakistan, we have been very patient so far. But ENOUGH IS ENOUGH NOW!! The heinous attack on Raoof Hassan is very instigating and further demonstrates that the powerful are unwilling to accept dissent, preferring to resort to cowardly tactics rather than addressing the underlying problems.”
He reiterated that economic stability cannot be achieved without political stability.
