Former prime minister Imran Khan will not take on the military or Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Asim Munir if he is released from prison, his close aide Zulfikar Bukhari told an international media outlet.
Bukhari’s comments came after the Supreme Court (SC) ordered authorities to shift Khan to a hospital for treatment and signalled a possible change in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s approach towards military leadership.
Speaking to an international media outlet on Wednesday, Bukhari, who is also a PTI spokesperson, said that the party could seek reconciliation with the military, although it remained unclear whether Khan himself shared the same position.
“If Imran Khan was released tomorrow, hypothetically, he wouldn’t do anything that would effectively damage the country,” Bukhari said, describing him as “magnanimous”.
“That doesn’t mean you go loggerheads with the establishment, with the military leader,” he said. “You control your own hurt. You curb your own pain. You swallow it for the betterment of your country.”
The government and military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Bukhari’s remarks. The military has previously denied interfering in politics, while the government maintains that Khan’s cases are being dealt with by the courts.
The SC on Tuesday ordered authorities to transfer the 73-year-old Khan from prison to a private hospital within 48 hours. Analysts have viewed the decision as a possible move towards reducing tensions between the military and PTI, although it could be temporary.
Bukhari described the court order as a “new ray of hope” and added that PTI would follow the court’s direction that its workers and leaders should not gather outside the hospital.
Bukhari mentioned that PTI was not holding talks with the military but described Munir, who also holds the rank of field marshal, as Pakistan’s most powerful man.
He said that if Munir woke up “one fine morning” and said: “Enough, I need to show I’m the father of the nation at the moment”, he could “rub his healing hand on to the country”.
“I would feel that every political prisoner would be out within 24 hours,” Bukhari said.
Analysts have questioned whether Khan would share the same approach as PTI leaders who have avoided arrest. Pakistani authorities have dismantled much of the party’s organisational structure and several of its former senior officials remain in prison.
“It’s unclear if ‘PTI’s leadership have the capacity, so long as Khan is in jail, to present a common front in any potential engagement or negotiation with the state’,” said Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
