Pakistan’s military has denounced PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s “irresponsible and baseless allegations” against a senior serving military officer as “extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable”. During a rally on Saturday, Khan claimed the official had planned to murder him, accusing him of orchestrating the plan. He has made similar claims before, notably following an assassination attempt last year when he held the Interior Minister, Rana Sanaullah, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the senior intelligence official responsible for the attack. In response, the military’s media wing issued a statement saying: “This fabricated and malicious allegation is extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable… This has been a consistent pattern for the last year wherein military and intelligence agencies officials are targeted with insinuations and sensational propaganda for the furtherance of political objectives. We ask the political leader concerned to make recourse to legal avenues and stop making false allegations.” PM Shehbaz Sharif also criticised Khan, stating that his “act of routinely maligning and threatening the Pakistan Army and Intelligence Agency for the sake of petty political gains is highly condemnable”.