Imran Khan is accused of planning the violence on May 9 to unseat the army chief

According to his close aide Usman Dar, jailed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan organized the violence on May 9 and planned the attacks on important military facilities with the intention of ousting Army Chief General Asim Munir.

When unrest erupted in Pakistan after the arrest of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief by paramilitary Rangers on May 9, The Express Tribune newspaper reported that Dar, who was thought to be one of Khan’s trusted aides, had reportedly gone underground.

During the unprecedented violence that erupted after Khan’s arrest, dozens of military and government structures, including the Army headquarters in Rawalpindi and the ISI building in Faisalabad, were set on fire and vandalized by PTI activists.

On Wednesday, Dar, the former leader of the PTI’s Tiger Force, a group of young volunteers, reemerged and made serious accusations against Khan on television.

Dar alleged that Khan presided over a meeting where it was decided to target sensitive installations on May 9 and that orders were given to attack them in the event that the former premier was detained.

Dar stated in the interview that “[at the meetings at Khan’s Lahore residence, Zaman Park] it was discussed that we should attack state institutions if necessary in order to put pressure on them.

According to Dar, the purpose of the unrest on May 9 was to put pressure on the military and depose Gen Munir. According to the report, he also said that May 9 was just a date and that the plot against the military had been in the works for quite some time.

Khan, who turned 71 on Thursday, is incarcerated in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail in connection with the cipher case. He is accused of breaking the Official Secrets Act by leaking a cable sent by the nation’s embassy in Washington in March of last year. Since then, he has remained in custody under judicial remand, which was extended until October 10.

Dar further claimed that the October 2022 long march organized by Khan to compel the government to set a date for early general elections was carried out to block the appointment of General Munir as army chief.

Dar, who during the interview announced his decision to leave the PTI party and politics, claimed that a narrative had been developed within the party that the arrest of the party chairman needed to be prevented at all costs. Party members then descended on Khan’s home in a flurry to avoid having him arrested.

Dar said the former premier was more inclined toward the latter’s viewpoint. He noted that there were two camps in the party, one calling for adopting a conciliatory approach toward state institutions and the other in favor of confronting the state institution head-on.

Dar was quoted by Samaa TV as saying that Imran Khan presided over a meeting where the planning and execution of the events of May 9 took place and that he supported an anti-state narrative.

The PTI leader is personally accountable for the PTI party’s current state, which, according to Khan’s Special Assistant on Youth Affairs, “is in a state of disintegration.”

He also accused the PTI leader of using the party members as “a human shield to avoid facing arrest,” the report states.

According to the Nation newspaper, the PTI party responded angrily to Dar’s interview, claiming it had neither legal nor public significance.

Dar’s appearance on a private TV channel, after 24 days in the care of unidentified kidnappers, undoubtedly exposed the kidnappers themselves, a party spokesperson claimed in a statement.

An anti-terrorism court was notified last month by a joint investigation team set up to look into the violence in Punjab province after Khan’s arrest that the PTI leader and several other prominent party leaders had a direct hand in planning the unprecedented anti-government violence on May 9.

Khan and more than 900 other party leaders and activists mentioned in the May 9 cases, according to Lahore police, have been “declared guilty of serious offenses,” the report said. The prosecution claimed in the chargesheets submitted to the court that the violent protests the suspects led on May 9 were a part of a deliberate plot against the state.