Pakistan army labels imprisoned ex-leader Imran Khan ‘mentally ill’ after he criticizes army chief

ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistan’s military pushed back Friday after imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan called the country’s army chief “mentally unstable.” The army labeled Khan “mentally ill” and accused him of using family visits and social media posts to attack the armed forces and sow division.

Army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, without directly naming Khan, described him as a “narcissist” whose political ambitions had grown so extreme that he believed “if I am not in power, nothing else should exist.”

Chaudhry told a televised news conference that people meeting Khan in prison were being used “to spread poison against the army.” His remarks came after one of Khan’s sisters met with him at a prison, and said her brother was angry at army chief Gen. Asim Munir.

Chaudhry’s rare remarks also followed a post by Khan on X a day earlier in which he labeled Munir a “mentally unstable person” and accused him of moral decline that had caused “the complete collapse of the Constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.” Khan said he and his wife were jailed on fabricated charges “at his command” and claimed he was being held in solitary confinement and subjected to psychological pressure.

Khan’s spokesperson, Zulfiquar Bukhari, said the army’s news conference was driven by anger, not reason, and included blatant threats against Khan and his PTI party. In a statement, he called it a clear attempt to pave the way for a harsher crackdown on the party and worsen the mental torture and his conditions in jail.

“They have already banned meetings with him going forward,” he said.

Khan, 73, has been imprisoned since 2023 following a corruption conviction and faces a series of other charges.

Chaudhry, at the news conference, displayed Khan’s latest post on X, saying Afghan and Indian media had amplified the “nonsense” of a “mentally ill person” and his allegations against Munir were baseless.

The latest development came a day after Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifapproved the promotion of the widely popular Munir as the chief of defense forces, a position that was established last month to improve coordination among the army, navy and air force.

Munir has risen to prominence since earlier this year, when Pakistan said it defeated India in a four-day conflict. Chaudhry said Khan is deliberately trying to stoke hostility toward the military.

“We will not allow anyone to create rifts between Pakistan’s military and its people,” Chaudhry said. He said the constitution guarantees freedom of expression but also places limits and does not allow anyone to undermine national security. Chaudhry linked Khan to the May 9, 2023, attacks on military installations, including the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi.

“Was it not this same individual who orchestrated those attacks?” he said.

The 2023 violence erupted after Khan’s arrest, when thousands of his supporters stormed government and military facilities. Khan has pleaded not guilty to charges of inciting the unrest.

Chaudhry said it was up to the civilian government – not the military – to decide whether Khan’s party should be banned. He described the former prime minister’s alleged anti-army messaging a national security concern and claimed it operated “in deep collusion with external actors.”

Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022. His party now sits in opposition and continues to allege that the 2024 parliamentary elections were rigged to favor current premier Sharif, a claim the government denies.