ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has distanced himself from sloganeering at Masjid-i-Nabwi, claiming he could not even “imagine” of asking anyone to carry out sloganeering at the sacred place and called it a spontaneous outrage of the people against the “foreign conspiracy” that toppled his government.

Mr Khan said he did not need to prove to anyone his love for Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). “I have spoken about Islamophobia at every forum,” the former premier told ARY News in an interview, part of which was aired a couple of days after some people shouting chor chor (thief, thief) had chased and physically attacked members of an official delegation during their visit to the holy mosque.

Some video clips that went viral on social media showed one of the hooligans pulling Shahzain Bugti’s hair who was then escorted to a safe place by the guards and obscenities being hurled at Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb.

The media director of the Saudi embassy in Islamabad later said the protesters were taken into custody for “violating the regulations” and “disrespecting” the sanctity of the holy mosque.

Calls it ‘spontaneous’ outrage of public, says ruling coalition members will face similar treatment in cricket grounds, other places

Distancing himself and his party from the incident, the PTI chairman in the TV interview claimed “all the PTI workers in Pakistan and abroad” were observing shab-i-dua (night of prayer) when the sloganeering took place. “What happened was due to their (new government’s) own actions — the way they ousted the [PTI] government by becoming a part of a foreign conspiracy. The way an NRO-2 (National Reconciliation Ordinance) was given through that conspiracy [and] the most corrupt people were imposed on the country. This is the public reaction,” he claimed. Overseas Pakistanis had come out openly “like never before” in Europe, the US and the UK in protest against his government ouster, he said, adding that he did not ask them to come out.

Mr Khan then challenged members of the ruling coalition to visit any public place such as a cricket ground and said: “They will not be able to show their face there.”

A similar challenge had been hurled by former interior minister and chief of the Awami Muslim League Sheikh Rashid to the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led delegation at a press conference in Peshawar hours before the incident at Masjid-i-Nabwi.

“When these people will visit the two holy mosques, we will see how people treat them,” the ex-minister had stated.

Mr Rashid’s video that kept taking rounds on social media made many in the government believe that all what happened had been pre-planned by their political rivals.

However, the former minister distanced himself from the incident of hooliganism at the holy mosque and denied any role behind it. “I want to tell those hurling such accusations that I am an Ashiq-i-Rasool (PBUH) that whatever happened at the holy mosque should not have happened,” he said on Saturday.

Without naming anyone, Mr Rashid, however, also said the people hate the “gang of five” and they would have to face a harsh public reaction wherever they went.

In a video statement, the ex-minister on Saturday said be it the UK or any other country visited by the ‘gang of five’, people would greet them by throwing rotten eggs and tomatoes on them. “And they will say Sheikh Rashid had already said it would happen,” he remarked.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2022