'Asim Munir turned against my wife after...': Imran Khan's serious charge against Pakistan Army Chief

Pakistan's jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has levelled serious allegations against Army Chief General Asim Munir, accusing him of orchestrating a personal vendetta against Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi. In a post on X, Khan claimed that Munir turned against Bushra Bibi after being removed from the post of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief.

"As Prime Minister, when I removed General Asim Munir from the post of DG ISI, he sought to approach my wife Bushra Bibi through intermediaries to discuss the matter. Bushra Bibi categorically declined, saying that she had no involvement with such affairs and would not meet him. It is General Asim Munir’s vindictive nature that is behind Bushra Bibi’s unjust 14-month incarceration and deplorable inhumane treatment in prison,” Khan said on Monday.

Khan, who has been imprisoned for nearly two years in multiple cases, accused Munir of pursuing personal vengeance against his wife. “The way my wife has been targeted for personal vengeance is unprecedented. Even during Pakistan’s darkest periods of dictatorship such a thing never happened,” he wrote. “She was accused of aiding and abetting, an allegation for which no proof has ever been presented, and she is arrested in one false case after another. She is a private citizen, a homemaker with no political involvement. I have not even been allowed to meet her in the past four weeks.”

Khan alleged that a scheduled meeting with Bushra Bibi on June 1 was denied despite court orders, calling it a violation of jail regulations.

Referring to the May 9, 2023 unrest—during which military installations were attacked—Khan repeated his charge that it was part of the “London Plan” aimed at dismantling the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the country’s largest political force. “Under this premeditated plan, I and several of my party leaders and workers were unlawfully imprisoned. Our democratic mandate was brazenly stolen, and corrupt individuals — Sharifs and Zardaris — were imposed upon the nation,” he wrote.

He accused the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government of unleashing “relentless fascist oppression”, fabricating charges against PTI supporters, and deploying brute force. “Our supporters were shot at, and baseless cases have been fabricated against us,” Khan said.

Khan further alleged that anti-terrorism courts and judges are complicit in suppressing his party. “Despite repeated demands, they refuse to summon or examine the stolen CCTV footage from May 9, 2023. Not a single judge has the courage to demand those tapes and deliver a verdict based on evidence. We are innocent. Our people are being sentenced without evidence and without the right to a fair trial.”

Calling for a judicial commission to probe the May 9 and November 26, 2024 incidents involving the deaths of pro-democracy protesters, Khan slammed the judiciary under Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. “The judiciary in Pakistan has never been more disgraceful than it is today. In the past, there was Justice Munir, whose unjust decisions earned him global notoriety. Today, Justice Qazi Faez Isa is following in the same footsteps. The entire judicial system seems complicit, driven not by justice but by a desire to protect their own jobs and privileges.”

(With inputs from PTI)