Former prime minister Imran Khan has admitted that he had called for a ‘peaceful protest’ at the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Pakistan Army in the garrison city before his arrest on May 9.

In an informal conversation with journalists at the Adiala Jail, the former prime minister stated that he had instructed his party’s workers to stage a peaceful protest at the GHQ before his arrest.

This is probably the first time the former prime minister admitted to calling for the protest outside the sensitive location following his arrest in the graft case.

The former prime minister also accused the authorities of fabricating witness testimonies against him in the May 9 cases.

He mentioned that he had named former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed when he was shot in Wazirabad, but no one had protested or vandalised property at the time. Khan alleged that his house was attacked on March 14 and he was attacked again at the Judicial Complex on March 18 despite assurances from the lawyers that they would cooperate with the investigation.

“Our peaceful protest has been labelled as rebellion,” the former prime minister said and added that if the protesters were not peaceful, party leader Yasmin Rashid would not have stopped people from entering Jinnah House.

Khan said: “I ask the chief justice why the hearing on our May 25 petition is not taking place.”

He alleged that a one-sided case was being heard in the Supreme Court and that his party workers were currently being held in military jails. Khan claimed that there were plans to send him to a military court on the May 9 cases as well.

The former premier also condemned the raid at the party’s headquarters in Islamabad.

When asked, he said that it would be better to impose “martial law” in the country than a technocrat setup. He reiterated that “undeclared martial law” was enforced in the country.

Khan has claimed that the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was currently out of control, with the public mood being highly charged.

Khan, who is currently imprisoned, stated that he has no knowledge of the developments outside, and has therefore called for the establishment of a judicial commission to ascertain the facts surrounding the Bannu incident.

He refrained from his previous statement related to the firing.