ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday reiterated that the army and the ISI were responsible for his condition and expressed fear for his life.
Khan (71), lodged at the Adiala Jail since last year, also blamed the current dispensation for being averse to criticism, for deteriorating law and order situation across the country, and also for ruining Pakistan’s cricket that is facing repeated defeats.
In a post on X from jail, Khan repeated claims about rigged elections and said only a government with a genuine mandate will be able to plan for fundamental reforms.
“The ISI controls all administrative matters related to my imprisonment. I’m saying it again: if anything happens to me, the army chief and ISI DG will be responsible,” the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a detailed post on X.
Khan’s comments came two days after the Pakistan government said that the former Prime Minister’s trial in cases concerning the violence on May 9 last year might go to the military courts. “The events and vandalism on May 9 invited the application of the Army Act since military installations were attacked and damaged,” government spokesperson Barrister Aqeel Malik had said.
Violent protests had erupted after Khan’s arrest by paramilitary Rangers from the premises of the Islamabad HC in connection with an alleged corruption case. His party workers allegedly vandalised a dozen military installations. A mob also attacked the army headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Khan’s post on X started with “reminding” the nation of the two attempts on his life: first in Wazirabad, Punjab province, and then again at the Judicial Complex in Islamabad.