“On Sunday everyone will watch in shock.”
Imran Khan has a defiant message for his nation and the world – it’s not over yet.
He’s a prime minister facing a no-confidence vote with an opposition claiming it has the necessary votes to oust him – 172 votes or more.
Those votes include some from his own party, as well as an unlikely coalition of former adversaries who have united to bring him and his government down before it completes a full term.
A notorious scenario in Pakistan’s fragile political history.
But Pakistan’s prime minister claims they’re not acting alone.
He says “a powerful western nation” has been plotting to oust him and it has been doing so for some time.
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“This plan hasn’t taken place overnight, it has been months in the making and began in October,” he said.
In a palatial meeting room at Prime Minister House in the capital, he told me how a cable sent to Islamabad from the country’s embassy made its intentions clear and he has decided to expose it.
He also said he is confident he will not lose the vote and that he has a strategy.
According to reports, Pakistan’s ambassador to the unidentified country was called and told he would be attending a meeting “to convey a clear message” that “if, and only if, Pakistan removes Imran Khan in this motion of no-confidence, will relations between the two countries normalise”.
Mr Khan said the official told the ambassador: “If Imran Khan loses, then no matter who comes in, all will be forgiven. If he wins then he will be isolated and you’ll have a hard time.”
In an address to the nation on Thursday, the prime minister, speaking live and off script, appeared to slip up and named the Unites Stated directly. He then corrected himself to say “a foreign country”.
The White House and US State Department have denied these claims, saying “there is no truth in it”.
But the Pakistani premier is clearly relying on this information to stir patriotic sentiment among his supporters and to sway the swing vote in Sunday’s no-confidence motion.
The prime minister, flanked by his advisers, told Sky News: “This is a straightforward black-and-white plot for regime change.”
He claimed to be the target of Western displeasure because of his longstanding domestically popular stance against the War on Terror, his refusal to allow US bases in Pakistan for use in Afghanistan since becoming prime minister, and his recent and highly criticised trip to Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin bombed Ukraine and launched his assault while Mr Khan was in the air and en-route.
The premier claimed he was asked to go as a neutral nation by the president of the European Council to talk to Russia and defuse tensions.
He also said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked him to play a role in resolving the crisis during their conversation earlier this week.
He said he is being wrongly accused of supporting Russia, when he is in fact a peacemaker.
It is no secret that the US has played a major role in Pakistan’s history – they were allies in a proxy war against the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, funding and arming the Mujahideen for the US under General Zia.
In the most recent invasion of Afghanistan, which ended so badly last October, Pakistan played a vital role.
We have heard similar rhetoric in the past too – George W Bush famously told General Pervez Musharraf: “You’re either with us or against us” and warned that Pakistan would be “bombed back into the Stone Age”.
This is the first time we’ve heard of an intervention in writing as exposed by a sitting prime minister of Pakistan.
In a dramatic few weeks, Pakistan has seen tens of thousands of people on the streets demonstrating for and against the prime minister. Allegations and counter claims have filled the airwaves and fuelled fears of further instability.
In the last 24 hours, news of more threats against Mr Khan have emerged – this time to his life.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told Sky News that security services have warned of a plot to assassinate the prime minister.
Mr Khan’s critics dismiss these as a ploy for popularity but in a country where premiers and a president have been assassinated, they will not take any chances.
He told Sky News: “My biggest issue is a planned conspiracy against an elected prime minister of another country.
“The United States has not refrained from its old tricks and I am here to expose this conspiracy.
“It’s an insult to the country and disregarding the democratic rights of 230 million people.”
It is this rhetoric that he hopes will put pressure on the opposition and members of his own party who plan to vote against him.
He said: “I will win either way, my party has never been more popular.”
I asked him if he has any regrets.
His immediate reply: “None at all.”
Then a pause.
“We were a new, inexperienced team and party. I’ll come back stronger.”
