Sharif’s government also drafted new regulations to shield the military from criticism.
In February, Islamabad proposed punishing those who ridicule the army with up to five years in prison. In March, media reports suggested they were also taking measures to rein in critique on social media.
Nonetheless, Khan steadily ratcheted up his attacks over the past year, culminating in explosive allegations following a November assassination attempt, which saw Khan shot in the leg while on the campaign trail.
Khan alleged a senior intelligence officer, Major-General Faisal Naseer, was in cahoots with Sharif in plotting the attack.
“Perhaps he thought that by building pressure on the army, by criticising the army, the army will pull back from supporting the present government,” said analyst Hasan Askari.
“It’s a risky strategy,” he told AFP.
DAY IN COURT
Khan has never offered proof of his claims regarding the assassination plot.
This weekend, he repeated the allegations, causing the army’s public relations wing to raise the stakes with a rare public rebuke, branding his remarks “fabricated and malicious”.
A day later, Khan was swarmed by paramilitary rangers and arrested at Islamabad High Court as he appeared to face a graft case.
“The timing of the arrest is striking,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center.
“The senior army leadership is uninterested in repairing the rift between itself and Khan, and so with this arrest it’s likely sending a message that the gloves are very much off.”
Supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have raised the stakes by attacking military targets – torching the residence of the corps commander in Lahore and attacking the entrance to the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi.
In Peshawar, a mob razed the Chaghi monument – a mountain-shaped sculpture honouring the location of Pakistan’s first nuclear test, while several memorials to service members killed on active duty were also vandalised.
On the streets of major cities, social media footage showed some PTI supporters attacking army vehicles on security duty, attempting to beat soldiers with sticks.
“The long-term future of democracy at this stage appears to be very uncertain in Pakistan,” Askari warned.