Jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan would not confront the military or army chief Asim Munir if freed, one of his closest aides told Reuters, portraying Munir as able to extend a “healing hand” after a legal breakthrough this week.
Zulfikar Bukhari, a PTI spokesperson, sent one of the strongest signals so far that the party was willing to reconcile with the military, potentially easing one of the tensest stand-offs in recent Pakistani political history.
As of Thursday afternoon, Khan had still not been transferred and it was unclear if the government would resubmit a challenge that was rejected on technical grounds earlier on Thursday. “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 about Bukhari’s remarks.
“I would feel that every political prisoner would be out within 24 hours.
“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. The military has previously said it does not interfere in politics, while the government says Khan’s cases are matters for the courts. Bukhari called the ruling a “new ray of hope” and said PTI would comply with the court’s instruction that its workers and leaders not gather outside the hospital. Bukhari said there were no talks between PTI and the military, but described Munir, who also holds the rank of field marshal, as Pakistan’s most powerful man. If Munir woke up “one fine morning” and said: “Enough, I need to show I’m the father of the nation at the moment”, then he could “rub his healing hand on to the country,” Bukhari said. 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.
