Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan hit out at the country’s powerful army in his first address after an Islamabad court set him free, saying it should be ashamed of jumping into politics and could form its own political party.
Addressing the nation from his Lahore home on Saturday, Khan took strong exception to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) allegations against him and said the spokesperson of the army’s military wing was not even born when he represented Pakistan in the world.
“I kept Pakistan’s flag high world over. Never has the ISPR made such a statement. You should be ashamed of yourself. You have jumped into politics. Why don’t you launch a (political) party?” Khan said in an hour-long maiden speech after Islamabad High Court gave him blanket relief in all 145 cases registered against him.
His remarks came in response to ISPR director-general Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry’s statement in which he called Khan a “hypocrite”.
“Listen to me Mr DG ISPR… you were not even born when I was representing my country in the world and earning a good name for it. You need to be ashamed of yourself for calling me a hypocrite and anti-army,” the former cricketer said. A triumphant Khan returned to his Zaman Park home in Lahore on Saturday after having locked himself in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises for hours for fear of re-arrest despite being granted bail on Friday.
Before leaving for Lahore, the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief hit out at the “imported government for kidnapping” him despite the IHC granting him bail in all cases. Khan also tore into Pakistan’s army chief General Asim Munir and blamed him for his “abduction” after the court set him free.
During Khan’s address, video clips were shown of how army trucks dropped “unidentified” plain clothes men, who joined PTI protesters and provoked them to unleash violence and ransack public property.
Khan distanced himself from the violent protests that erupted in the wake of his arrest on Tuesday from the IHC premises by the Pakistan Rangers, asserting that “violence and vandalism is not my philosophy”.
Khan’s arrest triggered unrest in Pakistan that continued till Friday and led to several deaths and dozens of military and state installations being destroyed by the protesters.
The police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10 while Khan’s party claims 40 of its workers lost their lives in firing by security personnel.
“They have put the entire leadership of the PTI in jails and arrested over 3,500 workers and instituted more cases against me after the attack on the state buildings by unknown persons,” Khan said.
“The government parties do not want the elections because they know they will be completely wiped out. That is why they planned this conspiracy (attack on military installations) and ran away from elections,” he said.
“Such actions have dire consequences. Although you (the army) will not listen to me, I advise you to think big. You should see where the country is heading by such actions,” Khan said.
Khan demanded an investigation into the protests and vandalism by an independent panel to be constituted by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
