Pakistan army chief Munir deliberately ‘igniting tensions’ with Afghanistan: Ex-PM Imran Khan

Lahore: Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday claimed that army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir's policies are “disastrous” for the country and accused him of deliberately “igniting tensions” with Afghanistan.

The 73-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician made the remarks in a social media post a day after his sister, Dr Uzma Khan, met him at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail after more than a month following Shehbaz Sharif’s government's "special permission".

"Asim Munir’s policies are disastrous for Pakistan. Because of his policies, terrorism has spiralled out of control that grieves me deeply," Khan said in an X post in Urdu.

"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' (Islamic fighter)," Khan said.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder said he opposed “drone attacks and military operations against own people in the country which he said would only fuel more terrorism”.

"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," Khan claimed.

Calling Munir a “mentally unstable man”, Khan alleged his “moral bankruptcy has led to the complete collapse of the Constitution and rule of law in Pakistan”.

Khan claimed that on Munir’s orders, he and his wife have been “imprisoned in fabricated cases and subjected to the worst form of psychological torture”.

“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 said.

Khan said despite clear directions of the high court, his meetings with political colleagues were first banned, and now even access to his lawyers and family has been stopped.

"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.

Praising Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Khan said in this "environment of repression", he has chosen “resistance over compromise”.

"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," Khan wrote.

An undeclared ban was placed on meeting Khan, who has been in prison since August 2023 in multiple cases, which ignited speculations about his health.

Uzma, after the meeting, 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.