During this political career, Khan was very critical of the Pakistan Army's involvement in politics and issued a strong criticism to the Pakistan Army's general, in the first instance in 1980, which led to his imprisonment– he stressed the importance of civilian control of the military for economic development. On various occasion, Khan called for normalisation of Indo-Pakistani relations and reportedly accused the Pakistan Army of inciting deliberate attempts to start the conflict with India. Khan also renounced the nuclear test operations conducted by Pakistan, targeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for making that decision In 2011 Khan maintained that: