LAHORE    -    Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chair­man Imran Khan said Thursday that he doesn’t ‘need the establishment’ and he was ready to talk with ev­eryone except the ‘thieves.’

In an interview, the former premier said that he only want­ed elections to be held in the country as per the law and the Constitution and he was willing to speak to anyone in this regard but did not need ‘crutches.’ “I was asked if I would speak to the es­tablishment if they want­ed to talk. I said I’m a po­litical person, I will talk to everyone except thieves,” Imran said, an apparent ref­erence to the coalition gov­ernment. Reportedly, Im­ran also told BBC Urdu that he had never invited Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir or Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to sit down for talks. “A statement has been circulating that I want to talk to the army chief [but] I don’t need the es­tablishment.” Imran fur­ther said that a political par­ty that enjoyed the support of the people did not need “crutches”. Asked whether the establishment’s attitude towards him had changed after the change in the mil­itary command, the ex-pre­mier told the publication that “it didn’t make any dif­ference to us.” He said that cases against the PTI were made during the tenure of former army chief General (retired) Qamar Javed Ba­jwa. “Prior to this, such cus­todial torture was never in­flicted on senior people. “We had thought it would change when the new army chief would come but there has been no change and [our difficulties] have in­creased,” he said.