Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan (File photo)
Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the country’s army chief and de-facto ruler Asim Munir, calling him a “mentally unstable man.” He also claimed that field marshal Munir’s policies were “disastrous” for Pakistan and accused him of intentionally “igniting tensions” with Afghanistan.The 73-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician shared these remarks on social media a day after his sister, Dr Uzma Khan, met him in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. The meeting took place after more than a month, following “special permission” from Shehbaz Sharif’s government, amid widespread rumours on social media about Imran’s health and safety after he was placed in solitary confinement.
In a post on X written in Urdu, Khan said, “Asim Munir’s policies are disastrous for Pakistan. Because of his policies, terrorism has spiralled out of control that grieves me deeply.”He further alleged, “Asim Munir has no concern for Pakistan’s national interests. He is doing all this merely to please Western powers. He deliberately ignited tensions with Afghanistan so that he could be seen internationally as a so-called ‘mujahid’.”The PTI founder said he had always opposed “drone attacks and military operations against own people in the country which he said would only fuel more terrorism.” He claimed, “Munir first threatened Afghans, then expelled refugees from Pakistan and carried out drone strikes whose consequences we now face in the form of rising terrorism.”Calling Munir a “mentally unstable man,” Khan alleged that the army chief’s “moral bankruptcy has led to the complete collapse of the Constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.”He also accused Munir of being behind the cases against him and his wife, saying they had been “imprisoned in fabricated cases and subjected to the worst form of psychological torture.”Khan described his prison conditions, saying, “I have been kept in complete solitary confinement, locked inside a cell with no contact with a single human being for four weeks. I was kept entirely cut off from the outside world, and even the basic necessities guaranteed under the jail manual have been taken away from us.”He added that despite court orders, his meetings with political colleagues were stopped, and now even his access to lawyers and family had been cut off. “Pick up any human rights charter, psychological torture is considered ‘torture’ and is deemed even more severe than physical torture. My sister Noreen Niazi was dragged on the road simply for demanding her legitimate right to meet me,” he said.Khan praised Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Sohail Afridi for showing courage during what he called an “environment of repression.” He wrote, “I ask him to continue to play on the front foot. There is no law or Constitution in this country. The law is enforced only against PTI as everyone else is exempt. Those threatening governor’s rule in KP should impose it today rather than tomorrow and then watch what happens to them.”Speculation about Khan’s health had grown after an undeclared ban was imposed on meeting him. Uzma, after seeing her brother, said his health was “perfectly fine” but he was being subjected to “mental torture in solitary confinement.”“Praise be to Allah! His health is perfectly fine. However, he was very angry and said that they are subjecting him to mental torture,” she said.