Don't care who’s next army chief, won't disclose long march date: Imran

Lahore: Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan said Wednesday he didn't care who would become the next chief of army staff and all he wanted was the new commander should be appointed on merit.

Talking to journalists in Lahore, he said they [government] wanted to bring a chief of their choice. "How can a criminal appoint the army chief?" Khan said.

Commenting on the issue of the lost cypher, Khan said: "The cypher has not been stolen. Its master copy remains with the Foreign Office. Thankfully, they have accepted [that there was] a cypher."

The PTI stalwart said if the investigating committee, probing the disappearance of the cypher, summoned him, he will first ask whom Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu ordered to be removed.

To a question, Khan said October 16 -- the date set by the Election Commission of Pakistan for by-elections on eight National Assembly seats -- was far and there’s a possibility that by-polls might not be held.

“The Election Commission of Pakistan is partial and they (the government) want to have me disqualified.”

The former prime minister further criticised the coalition leadership and said that PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif's Toshakhana cases should be heard simultaneously.

"I have not done anything illegal. On the other hand, they (Zardari and Nawaz) took expensive cars home which they were not entitled to,” Khan claimed.

The former prime minister also slammed Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and said how could he stop his party from marching to Islamabad.

He said he would not dislose the date of long march to any one.