Baseless allegations against senior army officer absolutely unacceptable, military tells Imran

• "Pakistan army prides itself on being an extremely professional and well-disciplined organisation," says army.
• Says "if honour, safety and prestige of its rank and file are being tarnished by vested interests, institution will safeguard its officers and soldiers no matter what."
• Military asks govt to investigate matter and initiate legal action against those responsible for defamation.

Responding to PTI Chairman Imran Khan's allegations that three people, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and a major of the Pakistan Army, were involved in plotting his assassination, the country's military rejected the statement as "baseless."

According to a press release by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the "baseless and irresponsible allegations by chairman PTI against the institution and particularly a senior army officer are absolutely unacceptable and uncalled for."

In the statement, the military's media wing said that the Pakistan army prides itself on being an extremely professional and well-disciplined organisation with a robust and highly effective internal accountability system applicable across the board for unlawful acts, if any, committed by uniformed personnel. 

"However, if the honour, safety and prestige of its rank and file are being tarnished by vested interests through frivolous allegations, the institution will safeguard its officers and soldiers no matter what." 

It added that the "baseless allegations hurled at the institution/officials today [by Imran Khan] are highly regrettable and strongly condemned. No one will be allowed to defame the institution or its soldiers with impunity.

"Keeping this in view, the government of Pakistan has been requested to investigate the matter and initiate legal action against those responsible for defamation and false accusations against the institution and its officials without any evidence whatsoever," the statement added.

In a televised address from the hospital, Khan maintained that he had already learned about the looming danger and had received information that there was a plan in place to kill him "somewhere between Wazirabad and Gujrat".

"Three people — including Rana Sanaullah, Shehbaz Sharif, and a major in the army — made a plan to assassinate me after they saw that the number of people in my long march was exponentially increasing," Khan asserted.

He also urged his followers and party members to continue staging a protest against the aforementioned individuals.

"Continue your protest against these three individuals until they step down from their posts," Khan said.