Imran claims PTI's 'hardships' increased after new army chief's appointment

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan claimed on Thursday that his party’s “hardships” increased after the appointment of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir, Aaj News reported.

Imran made these remarks during an interview with BBC Urdu that was published soon after the Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended PEMRA’s ban on his media coverage.

The PTI chief has long accused the former army chief General Qamar Bajwa (retired) of his ouster from the office in April last year. In a recent statement, Imran said Gen Bajwa (retd) wanted to crush his party. He has previously claimed that the former army chief’s set-up in the establishment was still calling the shots.

When the interviewer asked Imran if he witnessed any change after the change in the military’s command, the former premier said there has been no change. “In fact, hardships have increased in many ways for the party.”

“It doesn’t matter to us, cases were filed against us during the tenure of General Bajwa (retd). Never before that had there been so much custodial torture against senior citizens. We thought there will be a change, but there has been none, rather problems increased for us”.

When asked about his statement regarding a meeting with army chief General Asim Munir, the PTI chairman said he was ready to talk to the COAS, but played down the notion that he needed the establishment’s support to return to power.

“I don’t need establishment, the party that has public support doesn’t need crutches.”

He said that he only wanted polls in the country and for this, he was ready to talk to anyone, except for “looters.”

He also made it clear that he never formally invited the army chief or Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for talks.

Imran said the ruling coalition wanted him disqualified or sent to jail so that they could increase their chances of winning the next elections.

“The nation was against the ruling parties, so I won the 2018 election. And after this inflation, these parties have been buried.”

Commenting on Parvez Elahi’s appointment as PTI’s President, Imran said he offered Elahi a key position in his party to honour his commitment towards him.

When asked if Elahi will run the party’s affairs in case he gets arrested, Imran said it was the party’s vice-chairman [Shah Mehmood Qureshi] who was his second-in-command at the PTI.