Why Imran Khan’s Enemy No 1 is Pak army chief General Asim Munir

Pakistan’s Imran Khan has blamed the country’s powerful military for his arrest last Tuesday in a corruption case. The former prime minister has accused Army chief General Syed Asim Munir of ordering his arrest. Khan was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court on Friday (12 May), a day after the Supreme Court directed his release, calling his arrest “illegal and invalid”. “It is personal. It’s got nothing to do with national interest,” Khan told The Guardian in an interview. “Without any doubt, the military is behind my arrest,” he said. “Pakistan is now being run by the army chief. The crackdown on us is by the army chief.” But this is not the first time that Khan has hit out at a Pakistan Army chief. Let’s understand the rivalry between him and General Munir and his fallout with the military. Imran Khan vs Asim Munir The rift goes back to when Khan was the prime minister and General Munir was the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) – Pakistan’s spy agency. Munir, who was appointed by the then Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, in October 2018 had the shortest stint as the ISI head. [caption id=“attachment_12598262” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Syed Asim Munir was reportedly fired as the ISI head on the insistence of Imran Khan. PTI File Photo[/caption] Eight months after taking over as the spymaster, he was replaced by Lieutenant-General Faiz Hamid. As per reports, this was done at the insistence of the then-Pakistan prime minister Khan. “Given his stint as head of intelligence [ISI] was shortened by Prime Minister Khan, after both reportedly fell out, PTI [Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party] believes, Munir could be tilted against them,” Muhammed Faisal Khan, an Islamabad-based security analyst, told Al Jazeera in November 2022. An alleged audio clip of Aleem Khan, a former leader of Khan’s PTI, surfaced earlier last year alleged that Imran Khan was behind Munir’s sacking for revealing the corruption by his wife, Bushra Bibi, reported The Hindu.

Khan’s PTI was also opposed to Munir becoming the next Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), noted The Hindu.

Without offering congratulations, PTI had said in a statement at the time of General Munir’s appointment: “We hope that the new leadership of the armed forces of Pakistan will play its constitutional role… and stay out of the politics of domestic affairs…”. There were speculations that Munir might have been chosen as Bajwa’s successor because he was “anti-Imran”, as per Indian Express. Munir’s tenure as Lieutenant General was to end on 25 November 2022, just days before Bajwa’s retirement. However, the Shehbaz Sharif-led government amended the rules to make him the COAS. ALSO READ: Pakistan Protests: Why is Imran Khan so popular among the masses? The fallout between Khan and Pakistan Army It is widely believed that the Pakistan military propped up Khan, who became the country’s prime minister in August 2018, by “rigging” the polls in his favour. The PTI chief has denied this. However, as ThePrint noted, his friendly relationship with the military “did not remain rosy for too long, as things visibly began to sour between Khan and the army over issues such as mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic and corruption, among others”.   The flare-up also came to light when Khan backtracked on granting a proposed 3-month extension to then Army chief General Bajwa, ThePrint reported. Khan, who was ousted from power through a no-confidence vote last April, has also blamed the former Army chief, along with the Biden Administration in the US and Opposition parties, for his removal. According to Indian Express, Khan views General Munir as part of the same “Bajwa conspiracy” that does not want him to return to power. [caption id=“attachment_12598292” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Protests in Pakistan by Imran Khan’s supporters turned violent last week. Reuters File Photo[/caption] Speaking to The Guardian, Khan claimed that the Army chief and other senior military officers had a “vested interest to ensure that I don’t come back to power”. “They’re petrified. They know that we will sweep the elections, so they’ve been looking for an excuse to put me in jail,” the PTI chief added. Moreover, Khan has also alleged that an ISI officer had engineered the assassination attempt on him last year. Notably, Khan’s arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case came a day after the military openly rebuked the former prime minister for his repeated allegations against the official. He also accuses the army, the anti-corruption agency National Accountability Bureau (NAB), along with the Opposition leaders, of levelling false charges against him. There are more than 100 cases against the PTI chief, including defamation, terrorism and corruption. Are there divisions within Pakistan Army?  There are reports that all pro-Imran supporters in the Army may be shunted out. As per ThePrint, while it is not officially confirmed, Lahore corps commander Lieutenant-General Fayyaz Ghani has been sacked from his post. He had stood by as Khan’s supporters vandalised his official residence. The images of rioters stealing peacocks and frozen strawberries from the official’s house had gone viral last week. According to ThePrint report, leaked audio messages from one of Lieutenant-General Fayyaz’s relatives suggest the corps commander was against the army chief’s “policy of confrontation” with Khan. Three prominent commanders — Lieutenant-General Asif Ghafoor, Lieutenant-General Saqib Mehmood, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chair General Sahir Shamshad Mirza — also warned General Munir against a face-off with Khan, the report added. The Pakistan Army chief has started filling key positions with “hand-picked” officers such as appointing Rahat Naseem Khan as Lieutenant-General to head the National Defence University. According to ex-intelligence officer Rana Banerjee, General Munir will be able to appoint more loyalists as Lieutenant-Generals in September, reported ThePrint.  According to Indian Express, there are also rumours of a coup against Munir, with one corps commander ready to take over. With Khan’s no punches pulled strategy and the unprecedented attacks on Pakistan’s military institutions and residences by his supporters last week, General Munir faces a tough challenge from a popular rival. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.