Pakistan ex-PM accuses military of trying to destroy his party
Pakistan’s embattled former prime minister, Imran Khan, has accused the powerful military and its intelligence agency of openly seeking to destroy his political party.
Khan has previously hinted at the army’s hand in a crackdown on his Pakistani party Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), but his comments in an interview at his home in Lahore on Saturday evening were the most blunt yet.
“It’s completely the establishment,” the former cricket hero told Reuters news agency when asked who was behind the crackdown. “Establishment, of course, means the military establishment, because they’re really overt now — I mean, it’s not even hidden now — they’re just out in the open.”
A spokesman for the military — which has directly or indirectly governed the country in its 75-year history and has rarely been challenged as publicly as Khan — did not respond to a request for comment.
A years-long standoff between Khan, Pakistan’s most popular leader according to polls, and the military came to a head last month when military buildings and property were looted, reportedly by his supporters.
The political turmoil has increased uncertainty in the nuclear-armed country of 220 million, which is also beset by financial turmoil. The $350 billion economy is struggling to stave off defaults, contain record inflation and deal with a plummeting currency.
Khan described the violent protests, which erupted after he was briefly arrested, as a “false flag operation” designed to target him.
Authorities have begun trying dozens of people, including members of Khan’s party, suspected of involvement in the protests in military courts — usually reserved for military personnel or those identified as enemies of the state.
“That’s the only way they’ll get me in jail,” Khan said, adding that the military wanted to prevent him from returning to power in elections scheduled for November.
He said about 150 criminal cases filed against him were frivolous and would be dismissed by any civil court.
“So their only hope, and since they are determined to get rid of me, I think they will, is their whole charade of military courts to imprison me,” he said. “I have absolutely no doubt that the military courts are for me,” added Khan, who is out on bail.
Amnesty International says Pakistan’s military courts have previously shown disregard for due process, lack of transparency, coerced confessions and executions following unfair trials.
Spy agency
Khan said the country’s most powerful spy agency, the army’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was deeply involved in the crackdown.
He said two senior members of his party had been summoned by the bureau for talks. “And when they went there, they just locked them up and said, ‘You [won’t] leave unless you relinquish being part of PTI.’”
Khan said he has tried to contact the army for talks to find a way out of the current crisis, but got no response, and he did not know why the army chief, General Asim Munir, was “fixed” to him to be sidelined.
Before becoming army chief in November 2022, Munir was the head of the ISI – a post from which he was suddenly relieved in 2019 when Khan was prime minister.
Khan himself was ousted last year in a parliamentary vote he says was orchestrated by Pakistan’s top generals. The military denies this.
‘Enemy of the State’
No official reason was given for Munir’s removal, but Khan admitted for the first time in the interview that he had wanted him to step out of the role.
“I think he may be holding a grudge because I asked him to resign,” Khan said as ISI chief. “Don’t know.”
When asked why he had asked Munir to resign, Khan said, “You know, I, as Prime Minister, felt that the way the intelligence service was run … I had my issues with that.” He did not elaborate further.
Munir was later selected as the country’s top general by Khan’s successor and political rival, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“He shouldn’t have a problem with that now because he’s the army chief,” Khan said, referring to Munir’s removal as ISI head. “So why would he hold that grudge?”
Khan said he was amazed at the campaign against him.
“[I am] someone who has been known in this country for 50 years, who has probably won all the awards in this country and is probably the most famous Pakistani, and is suddenly treated like some kind of alien, like an enemy of the state.”