'One man cannot be allowed to turn country into anarchist state', Zardari calls out Imran Khan

KARACHI: PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari Saturday indirectly referred to PTI chief Imran Khan, stating that "one man could not be allowed to turn the country into an anarchist state".

Slamming the PTI for "spewing venom against the country's agencies", Zardari said: “One man is crossing every line to plunge the country into chaos", adding that the government would not tolerate any attack on institutions.

“That man neither cares about the integrity of the country nor does he have any respect for the institutions. All he thinks about is power, power, and only power.”

He said the country’s survival was linked to institutions.

“Since 1947, we have faced the enemy along with the institutions and will also do so in future, however, this time the enemy struck us through our own people,” the PPP leader said.

"We cannot forget the martyrdoms of the Pakistan Army and will also foil the enemy’s conspiracy."

A day earlier, Khan said he would resume his protest march to Islamabad after recovering from an assassination attempt, as his supporters staged nationwide protests that blocked major roads.

Khan was shot in the leg on Thursday as he waved to crowds from a container mounted on a truck from where he was leading a protest march on the capital to press for early elections and calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

"I will give a call to march on Islamabad once I get better," Khan said in a live address on Friday from a hospital in Lahore where he has been receiving medical treatment.

Khan accused three people of devising the plan to assassinate him, naming PM Shehbaz, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and a military official. He did not provide evidence for his claim.

The media wing of Pakistan's military called the allegations "baseless and irresponsible."

"The government of Pakistan has been requested to investigate the matter and initiate legal action against those responsible for defamation and false accusations against the institution and its officials without any evidence whatsoever," the military's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.