Pakistan’s military issued a forceful response on Friday after former Prime Minister Imran Khan, currently imprisoned, publicly accused Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir of being “mentally unstable” and responsible for undermining the Constitution. In a televised briefing, military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry condemned the remarks and described Khan as “mentally ill” and driven by an extreme belief that “if I am not in power, nothing else should exist.” Though Chaudhry did not mention Khan by name, the reference was unmistakable.
The briefing signaled a sharp escalation in tensions between the former premier and the military establishment. Chaudhry alleged that individuals visiting Khan in jail, including family members, were being used to spread anti-army messages. The comments followed statements from one of Khan’s sisters, who told reporters her brother was furious with Gen. Munir. Khan’s own post on X, accusing the army chief of engineering Pakistan’s decline and ordering his imprisonment, appears to have triggered the latest rebuttal.
Khan has claimed repeatedly that both he and his wife are being held on fabricated charges, insisting he is kept isolated and subjected to psychological pressure. His spokesperson, Zulfiquar Bukhari, criticized the military’s remarks as an “emotional outburst” intended to intimidate Khan and justify intensified restrictions on his political movement. He added that authorities had now banned further meetings with Khan.
During the briefing, Chaudhry displayed Khan’s recent social media posts, calling them “nonsense” amplified by the media and asserting that Khan’s accusations against Munir were baseless. He also linked the former prime minister once again to the May 9, 2023, attacks on military installations, suggesting Khan had orchestrated the unrest following his arrest. Khan continues to deny any involvement.
The latest clash comes shortly after President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the creation of the new chief of defence forces role, elevating Munir to a position overseeing coordination across Pakistan’s military branches. Chaudhry accused Khan of attempting to incite public hostility against the armed forces and warned that national security places limits on political expression.
Imran Khan, ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022, remains jailed following a 2023 corruption conviction and faces several additional cases. His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party continues to claim that the 2024 elections were manipulated to benefit Prime Minister Sharif, a charge the government rejects.
