Islamabad — Pakistan’s army chief General Asim Munir on Thursday denied receiving any letter from jailed former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.
Geo News reported that talking informally to the media and apparently referring to Khan’s ‘open letters’, the army chief said he would not “read it (letter) even if I receive it”.
The army chief maintained that he would forward any such communication to the prime minister if he received it.
General Munir maintained that the country was progressing satisfactorily and Pakistan was on the path of development. “Pakistan is moving forward and Pakistan has to move forward,” the army chief added.
The development came only a day after Khan, who has been behind in jail since August 2023 in dozens of cases ranging from corruption to terrorism, penned a third open letter to General Munir, according to his lawyer.
In the third letter, the jailed PTI founder reiterated election rigging allegations, saying “money launderers” were brought into power via manipulated polls.
“The PTI founder, in his letter to the army chief, has raised the issue of giving preference to the minority over the majority through election fraud,” his lawyer Faisal Chaudhry had said.
Earlier, the 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician said he had penned two “open letters” to the army chief on February 3 and February 8 “because all democratic avenues had been obstructed”.
In previous letters, Khan pointed out what he claimed was a growing distance between the military and the public. He also urged the army to re-evaluate its policy to win over the public with reasons and suggestions proposed by him to remedy the situation.
The letters were important as the PTI had ended its negotiations with the government last month, in which it had demanded two things — the formation of judicial commissions on events that transpired on May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024, as well as the release of “all political prisoners”, including Khan. — (PTI)
