Imran Khan asks President Alvi to investigate military

 

In a letter to the president, ex-PM questions how military officials can hold a press briefing targeting a political leader. 

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has asked President Arif Alvi to initiate an inquiry into a news conference held by Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agency, which he has accused of orchestrating the attack on him. 

In a letter to the president, Khan referred to the event held last month by Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum, chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). 

“How can two military bureaucrats do a highly political press conference targeting the leader of the largest federal political party,” wrote Khan, the head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. 

At the unprecedented news conference on October 27, Anjum was accompanied by Lieutenant General Babar Iftikhar, the chief of the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). 

Khan is recovering at home in Lahore after he was discharged from hospital on Sunday. Last week, he was wounded in the leg in an apparent assassination attempt during a protest rally in Wazirabad in the eastern province of Punjab. 

“I am requesting you to act now to stop the abuse of power and violations of our laws and constitutions,” he wrote, also asking that the president defines ISPR’s role.

Khan has provided no evidence to back his accusations. There has been no response so far to the letter from either the president, who is the supreme commander of the armed forces, or the military. 

The two military officials talked to the media about the killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya and responded to allegations made by Khan against the military establishment. 

The PTI chief has claimed that a senior intelligence official Major General Faisal Naseer, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah were involved in what he called the plot to kill him, and demanded they be sacked.

Reported by Aljazeera