“I was “not dangerous” when I was part of the government, but I will be “more dangerous” now,” said ousted Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan said at a rally in Peshawar on Thursday.
“I ask the judiciary that when you opened the court in the dead of night … this nation has known me for 45 years. Have I ever broken the law? When I played cricket, did anyone ever accuse me of match-fixing?” Khan said in his first public address since being removed as the PM in Peshawar.
“Every time a prime minister was ousted, people would celebrate it, but when I was removed from office, the masses registered a protest,” Khan said.
The former PM also said again that a “foreign conspiracy” was plotted in Washington, with the help of the Opposition parties, to overthrow his government.
Khan also said that those who had hatched the conspiracy were very happy that he was ousted from the government. “I was not dangerous when I was part of the government, but I will be more dangerous now.”
Also read: Pakistan PM Imran Khan ousted in no-confidence vote
“We will not accept an imported government and people have shown what they want by holding demonstrations against the move,” Khan said.
“During my 25 years of politics, I have never provoked the public against state institutions or the judiciary because my life/death is in Pakistan. I ask you, what crime had I exactly committed that you opened up the courts at midnight?” Khan said at the rally.
“There are 40,000 crore corruption cases against Shehbaz Sharif. Do you think we will accept him as our Prime Minister? and whoever thinks so… would like to say that it is not that 1970s Pakistan when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was removed with the help of foreign powers. It is a Naya Pakistan,” Khan added.
According to reports, Khan has also moved the Supreme Court of Pakistan, seeking a lifetime ban on contesting elections for defecting ministers.
Khan was removed from office through a no-confidence vote held in the wee hours of Sunday after a day of high drama, becoming the first premier in the country’s history to be sent home after losing the trust of the House.
The joint Opposition – a rainbow of socialist, liberal and radically religious parties – secured the support of 174 members in the 342-member National Assembly, more than the needed strength of 172 to oust the Prime Minister on a day full of drama and multiple adjournments of the lower house.