Will prove arsonists were planted to provoke peaceful May 9 protesters: Imran Khan

• Khan says he had strongly advised protesters to remain peaceful.
• Insists he had exposed "plan" to incite violence in peaceful protests.
• PTI yet to officially condemned violence during May 9 protests. 

Amid high tensions between the government and opposition over the deadly unrest that ensued after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's arrest, the former premier said that he would prove that arsonists were planted to provoke peaceful protesters of May 9.

With all the actors in the political arena together against PTI, the party's insistence continues on the stance that it had no hand in the incidents of violence that included attack on state property and vital installations including General Headquarters and Lahore Corps Commander House.

Despite being called out multiple times by the government, PTI has yet to officially condemned the violence. 

Taking to Twitter, PTI chief Imran Khan shared a video from his old televised address to the supporters, insisting that he had exposed "the plan" to incite violence amid peaceful protests on March 22 after the attack on Islamabad judicial complex.

"I recorded this on the 22nd of March after my attempted assassination in the Islamabad judicial complex on the 18th," Khan wrote on Twitter.

He said that he had strongly advised the PTI workers that they should protest while remaining completely peaceful no matter how much anyone provoked them.

"Whenever there is an independent inquiry I will prove that those who had guns and those who committed arson were planted amongst the demonstrators just as they were going to do in the the plan I uncovered here in this video message," said Khan. 

The video

In the video dated March 22, 2023, Khan strongly advised his supporters to stay calm and peaceful despite any possible efforts to provoke them into violence.

"Now they have hatched another plan. I am letting all of you know. Im bringing it to the judiciary’s notice. I’m specially alerting the Punjab Police [that] IG Punjab and IG Islamabad, backed by handlers, have decided an operation outside Zaman Park either today or tomorrow," the video started with Khan saying.

He said that the plan was to incorporate violent groups into peaceful crowds outside Zaman Park, which "will shoot down 4-5 policemen" turning it into a Model Town type massacre.

"They will then proceed further and attack my house, and assassinate me in a manner Murtaza Bhutto was killed," he added.

He reiterated his advice for the PTI workers against becoming a part of the conflict.

He then directed his supporters to let the police come to him if they seek a meeting as there was no chance of his arrest as he had been granbted bail in every case then. He said that he was ready to go to jail but didn’t want his people to be killed. 

Imran Khan says ‘agencies men’ involved in attacks 

After the military's top brass vowed to try protesters and their abettors under Army Act and other laws, Khan had blamed the “agencies men” for arson and shooting in some areas during the May 9 violent protests, which were triggered following his arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

In a tweet from his official handle on Monday, the former premier said his party has “ample amount of evidence” to prove that agencies' men carried out arson and shootings during the protests to blame it on PTI.

Without referring to the military’s statement, the PTI chief wrote: “We have ample amount of evidence to present to any independent inquiry that the arson and in some places shootings were done by agencies men who wanted to cause mayhem and blame it on PTI so the current crackdown would be justified.”

He said miscreants were infiltrated into the PTI protesters and instigated his workers, video evidence of which he said available with the party.

“I want an independent inquiry [into the vandalism]..,” he said adding that this was all being done under the "London plan" to ban his party and put all the leaders behind bars.