Incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan should be tried in a military court, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Thursday.

“During his [Imran Khan] tenure, I was charged under Article 6 [high treason] and he should also undergo a military trial,” he said while appearing on Aaj News programme News Insight with Amir Zia. “He did not descend from the heavens.”

This is not the first time Asif has said this. He spoke about it last month in an interview with a private channel. But he did not elaborate on the evidence against the former prime minister.

On September 5, the army hinted at a military trial for Khan and warned that using military personnel for personal or political gains invites legal action.

“Under military law, anyone who uses individuals subject to the Army Act for personal or political gain and evidence of such actions exists, will be subject to the law taking its course,” military spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry stated during a media briefing at the Inter-Services Public Relations office located in the General Headquarters.

Such apprehensions were also expressed by Khan himself following former spymaster Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed’s arrest. He approached the Islamabad High Court against his possible military trial in connection with cases registered against him over the May 9 violent protests.

In one of the hearings, the federal government informed the court Khan’s trial by military court was not under its consideration.

According to the defence minister, events related to May 9 could land the PTI founder’s case in the military courts.

“If the May 9 events trial started in military courts, which according to me should start as military installations were attacked, and if his connection is established, which I think is, then he will tried there,” Asif said.

When columnist Javed Chaudhry appeared on Rubaroo on September 13, he also spoke in the same wavelength but linked it to the constitutional amendment.