Pak PM accuses Imran Khan of engaging in ‘vile’ and ‘sinister’ campaign against army chief

Islamabad, Jul 9 (PTI) Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday accused his predecessor Imran Khan of being involved in a “vile, sinister and malicious campaign” against Army chief General Asim Munir.

Taking to Twitter, Sharif said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Khan was using proxies to target the army chief.

“Imran Khan continues to engage in a vile, sinister & malicious campaign against COAS General Syed Asim Munir. His trick of using the proxies to threaten the Army Chief of an assassination attempt has been badly exposed,” he said.

The prime minister claimed that Khan was using coercive tactics to come back to power.

“After his methodically planned attack on the State symbols failed, he is clearly desperate & wants to coerce his way back into power, little knowing that the time of his politics of intimidation, violence & hatred is over,” he tweeted.

Sharif said the former prime minister was exposing himself by using highly condemnable antics, “the core of which is defined by putting his personal interest (power grab) over everything else”.

“The people of Pakistan and the political parties stand behind their Army Chief & the armed forces like a rock & will thwart any attempt and conspiracy at undermining their prestige, honour and integrity,” he wrote on the microblogging site.

Separately, in a press statement shared by PM Office Media Wing, Sharif ordered the authorities to take legal action against those involved in such malicious campaigns inside the country and abroad.

“A clear message to the planners, facilitators and handlers of May 9: All conspiracies against Pakistan and its institutions will be crushed,” he said.

Violent protests sparked across the country on May 9 after PTI chief Khan was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court.

The government later launched a massive crackdown against the PTI leaders and workers and rounded up thousands of people on charges of attacking civil and military installations.

Khan’s supporters vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander’s House, the Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad in response to Khan’s arrest.

The mob also stormed the Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi for the first time.

Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10 while Khan’s party claims 40 of its workers lost their lives in the firing by security personnel.

“Desperate elements will not be allowed to create a new crisis in the country,” Sharif said in the press release, adding that the nation stood by its armed forces and its leader.

Khan was removed from power through a no-trust vote in April last year but he refused to accept it and launched a campaign to win back power by branding his removal as a conspiracy. His effort hit snags after violence unleashed by his supporters on May 9 when he was arrested.

However, he is trying to break the shackle by using social media and his brigade of supporters allegedly also operating from abroad are targeting the army chief along with the government for cornering Khan.

The former premier enjoys solid support among the Pakistanis based in the western countries, and statements by Sharif follow after hundreds of Pakistanis Americans gathered outside the White House a day earlier to demand an end to the government’s actions against Khan.