Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday accused army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir of pursuing “disastrous” policies and deliberately stoking tensions with Afghanistan. Khan’s remarks came in a social media post a day after his sister, Dr Uzma Khan, visited him at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail following more than a month and after the Shehbaz Sharif government granted special permission.
Khan, 73, wrote in Urdu on X that Munir’s policies have led to a surge in terrorism and that Munir puts Western interests ahead of Pakistan’s. He alleged Munir purposely provoked Afghanistan to present himself internationally as a “mujahid” (Islamic fighter).
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder said he opposes drone attacks and military operations against Pakistanis, which he argued only fuel more terrorism. He blamed Munir for first threatening Afghans, then expelling refugees, and authorising drone strikes whose fallout he says has driven the rise in violence.
Khan called Munir “mentally unstable” and accused him of moral bankruptcy that, he said, has led to the collapse of the Constitution and rule of law. He claimed that Munir ordered fabricated cases against him and his wife and subjected them to severe psychological torture.
Describing his detention conditions, Khan said he had been held in complete solitary confinement for four weeks with no contact with other people, cut off from the outside world and denied basic jail-manual entitlements. He said court directions to allow meetings with political colleagues were ignored and that access to his lawyers and family has been blocked.
“Pick up any human rights charter, psychological torture is considered ‘torture’ and is deemed even more severe than physical torture,” Khan wrote, adding that his sister Noreen Niazi was dragged on the road after demanding her lawful right to meet him.
Praising Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Khan urged continued resistance rather than compromise in what he called an environment of repression. He wrote there is no law or constitution in Pakistan and claimed laws are enforced only against PTI, with others exempt. He warned those threatening Governor’s rule in KP to impose it now and “then watch what happens to them.”
An undeclared ban on visits to Khan, who has been imprisoned since August 2023 in multiple cases, had fuelled speculation about his health. After her jail meeting, Uzma said his health was “perfectly fine” but confirmed he was being subjected to “mental torture in solitary confinement,” and that he was very angry about his treatment.
