Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Thursday claimed that hardships for his party increased after the appointment of the new army chief General Syed Asim Munir months back.
In an interview with BBC Urdu, the ex-prime minister said that his party was expecting a change after the new appointment at the GHQ but, he added, there is no change and the problems increased instead.
Responding to a question, the PTI chairman said it was being reported that he wanted to meet the new army chief General Syed Asim Munir but, Khan clarified that he does not need establishment as the party which has public support doesn’t need crutches.
Imran Khan said that he only wanted elections in the country and for this purpose, he was ready to meet anyone. PTI chief said that he is a politician and he can talk to every one except “thieves”. He, however, said that he never invited Shehbaz Sharif or the army chief to talk.
Army Chief’s statement
The PTI chairman’s comments came a day after Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir — while speaking to the leading businessmen earlier this week — had said that Imran Khan requested a meeting with him but was declined.
When asked about the establishment’s attitude after the change in military command, Imran Khan said, “That didn’t matter to us, the cases were filed against us during General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s tenure. Never before that, had there been so much custodial torture against senior citizens. We thought there would be a change, but there has been none. Rather problems increased for us,” he said.
Elahi’s induction into PTI
Khan further said that the ruling parties wanted him disqualified or put him in the jail so that they could win the upcoming elections. “The nation was against these ruling parties, so I won the elections in 2018. And after this inflation, these [ruling] parties have been buried,” he added.
Regarding Parvez Elahi’s induction into the PTI and appointment as president, Khan said that the vice-chairman [Shah Mahmood Qureshi] was the number two person in the Pakistan Tehrek-e-Insaf hierarchy.
Khan claimed there were more than 70 cases registered against him and added these cases were of strange nature and would end as soon as they land in the courts.
