Threatening letter 'came from the US': Imran Khan
In a live televised address to the nation on Thursday (31 March), the same day a confidence debate began in the Pakistani parliament, Khan said "America threatened me" when talking about the letter before trying to correct himself and saying "it was a foreign country"
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the letter that showed a foreign country was conspiring against him "came from the US."
In a live televised address to the nation on Thursday (31 March), the same day a confidence debate began in the Pakistani parliament, he said "America threatened me" when talking about the letter before trying to correct himself and saying "it was a foreign country".
His statement sparked a debate in Pakistan leaving people contemplating whether it was deliberate or if it was a slip of the tongue on the part of the prime minister speaking live on television, reports The News International.
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According to the report, Imran Khan said it loud and clear that he would not resign come what may, adding the nation would see on Sunday the faces of those lawmakers who would vote against him.
In his address to Pakistan at a time when he has lost the majority in the National Assembly, Imran Khan started off with his political ideology and reason for his joining the political arena.
He said he wanted to take the nation into confidence in the letter containing evidence of a foreign conspiracy to overthrow his government. He first named the US as the country but quickly corrected himself by saying the letter was from some other country.
He said the message was not against the prime minister but against the people of an independent country. The Pak premier said it was quite obvious that they already knew about the impending no-confidence motion before it was filed, adding it clearly indicated that the opposition was in contact with people abroad.
He said the contents of the letter were directed at him and contained that if the no-trust motion succeeded against him, Pakistan would be forgiven. He said that it was a communication which was recorded against an elected prime minister.
Khan posed a question to the nation about its status and said Pakistan was a country of 220 million people and ironically another country was threatening it.
He termed it naked interference in the affairs of an independent country and unacceptable and said this would be taken up with country concerned and strongly protested.
The Pakistani prime minister said the reason was for issuing threats was that he (Imran Khan) had decided to visit Russia on his own, adding it was untrue as he had consulted the Foreign Office, the military leadership and even former diplomats before undertaking the trip.
Khan said he would return stronger no matter what happened on the vote of no-confidence.
