Lahore: Making a startling comment, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that former prime minister Imran Khan took the country's politics to a point where either "he (Imran) will get murdered or us", PTI reported.
The minister also referred to Khan as the 'enemy' of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N).
The minister's remarks have churned a clamour among political circles, particularly from Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.
After a gun attack on him during a rally in Wazirabad, Imran Khan has named minister Rana Sanaulllah behind the attack. The 70-year-old Khan also mentioned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a senior ISI officer in an application for FIR for their role in the murder attempt on him.
Sanaullah said in an interview on Sunday, "Either Imran Khan or us will get murdered. He has now taken the country's politics to a point where only one of the two can remain -- PTI or PMLN. PMLN's entire existence is in jeopardy, and we will go to any extent against him to settle a score with him. Imran Khan has turned politics into enmity. Imran Khan is now our enemy, and he will be treated like that."
When the minister was asked if his remarks could cause anarchy in Pakistan, he said, "Anarchy already prevails in Pakistan."
PTI leader and former federal information minister Fawad Chaudhry strongly reacted to Rana Sanaullah's statement. He said, "This is a direct life threat to Imran Khan from the PMLN coalition government." "Is Sanaullah running a gang or government? The Supreme Court had rightly declared Sharifs-led PMLN a Sicilian mafia, and his statement is evidence of it."
PTI urged the Supreme Court to take notice of the "open threat" to Imran Khan's life.
Senior PTI leader and former minister Shireen Mazari said, "If anyone has any doubts about Rana Sanaullah's murderous intent towards Imran Khan. This is a direct threat given by the cabal of crooks' interior minister. The judiciary should take note."