Pakistan’s military has no intention of entering into negotiations or cutting a deal with incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, senior military sources told the Guardian, after Khan said he would be willing to engage with the army leadership from his jail cell. Khan, who is being held in Pakistan’s Adiala jail, is banned from meeting journalists but the Guardian was able to submit questions through his legal team. In his responses, Khan said he has had “no personal engagement with the military” since he was arrested and imprisoned in August last year.
However, he said he would not rule out doing a deal with Pakistan’s powerful military establishment, despite previously accusing them of bringing down his government and being behind his incarceration. “With regards to doing a deal with the military, any engagement would be based on principles and in the interest of the people, not personal gain or compromises that undermine Pakistan’s democratic values,” Khan told the Guardian. He added that he would “rather live the rest of my life in prison than compromise on my principles.
” It is widely acknowledged that Khan, a former superstar cricketer, was helped into power in 2018 with the backing of the military, long seen as the kingmakers of Pakistani politics and whose interference has often been an obstacle to the country’s fraught path to democracy. It was after Khan’s relationship with the army’s leadership fell apart in 2022 that he was toppled.
