Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan hit out at the country’s powerful army in his first address after an Islamabad court set him free, saying it should be ashamed of jumping into politics and could form its own political party.
Addressing the nation from his Lahore home on Saturday, Khan took strong exception to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) allegations against him and said the spokesperson of the army’s military wing was not even born when he represented Pakistan in the world.
“I kept Pakistan’s flag high world over. Never has ISPR made such a statement. You should be ashamed of yourself. You have jumped into politics. Why don’t you make a political party,” Khan said in an hour-long maiden speech after the Islamabad High Court gave him blanket relief in all 145 cases registered against him.
His remarks came in response to ISPR Director-General Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry’s statement in which he called Khan a “hypocrite”.
“Listen to me Mr DG ISPR…you were not even born when I was representing my country in the world and earning a good name for it. You need to be ashamed of yourself for calling me a hypocrite and anti-Army,” he said in a harsh rejoinder.
A triumphant Khan returned to his Zaman Park home in Lahore on Saturday after having locked himself in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises for hours for fear of re-arrest despite being granted bail on Friday.
Before leaving for Lahore, the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief hit out at the “imported government for kidnapping” him despite the IHC granting him bail in all cases.
The 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief also tore into Pakistan’s Army chief General Asim Munir and blamed him for his “abduction” after a court set him free.
In a major relief to Khan, the Islamabad High Court on Friday granted him protective bail for two weeks in a corruption case and barred the authorities from arresting the former Pakistan prime minister in any case registered anywhere in the country until Monday.
During Khan’s address, video clips were shown of how army trucks dropped ‘unidentified’ plainclothesmen, who joined PTI protesters and provoked them to unleash violence and ransack public property.
Khan distanced himself from violent protests that erupted in the wake of his arrest on Tuesday from IHC premises by Pakistan Rangers, asserting that “violence and vandalism is not my philosophy”.
Khan’s arrest triggered unrest in Pakistan that continued till Friday and led to several deaths and dozens of military and state installations being destroyed by the protesters. For the first time in Pakistan’s history, the protesters stormed the army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and also torched a corps commander’s house in Lahore.
