Imran Khan says PTI accountable to people of KP, not the military

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that his party is answerable only to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and will never act against their interests, asserting that the province’s mandate must be respected amid growing tensions between the civilian leadership and the military establishment.

The remarks, issued through Imran’s official X (formerly Twitter) account from prison, came days after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry publicly warned that Pakistan would not compromise its national security or engage in any “appeasement of terrorists or their facilitators.”
Speaking at a press conference in Peshawar on Friday, Lt Gen Chaudhry indirectly criticized Imran’s recent calls for dialogue with the Afghan Taliban to help curb militant violence in KP — a province governed by PTI. Without naming the jailed ex-premier, the ISPR chief said the “most responsible person for the resurgence of terrorism in KP” could not dictate national security policy, adding that the state “will not be held hostage to political distortions.”
In his statement, Imran pushed back against what he called the “dangerous practice” of branding political opponents as traitors, saying it undermines democracy and silences legitimate dissent.
“The PTI is the largest political party in Pakistan. Branding its members as traitors simply because they disagree with certain policies is an extremely perilous act,” Imran said. “As a politician, it is my right to criticise any policy that harms the people, the country’s integrity, or democracy — and I will continue to oppose such policies.”
He emphasized that the PTI’s governance decisions in KP were guided solely by the province’s voters.
“The people of KP have given us their mandate, and we are answerable to them — not to the DG ISPR,” he said. “We will never go against the interests of Pakistan or the province.”

Imran also sought to ease speculation about his stance toward the military, stating: “The army is mine, the country is mine, and its people are mine. I have no enmity with the army.”
The statement came amid a transition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, where Sohail Afridi was recently elected as the new chief minister following the resignation of Ali Amin Gandapur. Imran congratulated PTI lawmakers for voting “unanimously and without hesitation” for his chosen nominee, describing Afridi as his “opening batsman” — a cricket metaphor reflecting Imran’s enduring style of political communication.
He also praised Gandapur for his loyalty and discipline, noting that the outgoing chief minister “resigned not once but thrice without any hesitation” in deference to party unity.
The exchange between Imran and the military’s top spokesperson highlights the widening gulf between Pakistan’s most popular political party and the powerful armed forces, which have long been accused of interfering in civilian politics.
Security analysts say the back-and-forth comes at a time when the KP region faces a renewed wave of militant violence, with attacks on police and military posts on the rise since the collapse of the Taliban government’s border coordination with Pakistan. PTI leaders have been urging direct engagement with Kabul to stem cross-border militancy — a proposal the military leadership strongly opposes.