Terrorists Have Sought Help From Afghan Assassin To Kill Imran Khan: Report

The Urdu language newspaper while citing a senior police official said that the Counter-Terrorism Department issued the alert earlier on June 18.

Former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan. (File Photo: Getty Images)

New Delhi: The Counter-Terrorism Department’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wing, as per a media report, has warned the terrorists are planning to assassinate the country’s former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported. The Counter-Terrorism Department said the terrorists have sought assistance from an assassin in Afghanistan to target Khan.

In the wake of the threat alert, the Counter-Terrorism Department, according to Urdu language newspaper ‘Jang’, has directed all concerned agencies to take all possible measures for the former prime minister’s security, the news agency reported. The text of the threat alert, as per the newspaper, has been shared with various forums.

The Urdu language newspaper while citing a senior police official said that the Counter-Terrorism Department issued the alert earlier on June 18.

The official, however, added that there were orders to keep the threat a secret and prevent it from being leaked on the social media.

Expressing concerns about the threat to the former prime minister’s life, the PTI leaders have claimed that a target killer has been hired to assassinate him.

PTI leader Fayyaz Chohan earlier on Saturday said that “some people” have tasked a terrorist with assassinating his party chief.

“I have details that some people have ordered a terrorist named ‘Cochi’ in Afghanistan to assassinate PTI Chairman Imran Khan,” he said.

The PTI chief, who was ousted from power earlier in April this year through a no-trust vote, has been claiming that the no-trust motion against him was the result of a “foreign conspiracy” because his independent foreign policy and funds were being channelled from abroad to oust him from power.

Khan has named the United States as the nation behind the conspiracy. Washington has categorically rubbished the charge.

The former prime minister had last month claimed that there was a threat to his life, following which he recorded a video of the characters behind the “conspiracy” against his government, and if something happens to him then it will be released.

In view of the same, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had last month directed the Interior Ministry to provide foolproof security to Khan at his residence in Islamabad and during political rallies.