Islamabad, May 9 (IANS): Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced that legal action will be taken against his predecessor Imran Khan for delivering an "anti-state speech" in a public gathering in Abbottabad, saying it was "a grand conspiracy" against the country and its institutions.

Sharif said what Khan was doing could only be categorised as conspiracy and not politics and the conspiracy was not against any political rivals but against the country, The Express Tribune reported.

"Pakistan cannot be surrendered and compromised over one person's ego, arrogance, and blatant lies... Imran first conspired to destroy economy of the country and was now planning to trigger a civil-war in Pakistan."

Sharif said that the ousted premier was pushing the country toward "civil war" and warned that all his "nefarious designs" would be crushed at all costs.

Sharif's remarks come on the heels of military spokesperson's statement warning politicians, journalists and analysts against dragging Pakistan Army and its leadership in the country's political affairs, saying that the practice is "extremely damaging".

While calling Khan as Hitler, Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq, Sharif accused him of "concocting a narrative against national institutions", saying the former leader was not doing politics but busy conspiring against the country and its institutions, The Express Tribune reported.

He said that "those concocting a narrative against national institutions were the real Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq" – the names that Khan has frequently used in his speeches to label the Prime Minister and others as "traitors".

Sharif said the state, Constitution and the "respected institutions of Pakistan" were challenged by Khan in Abbottabad.

He assured that legal action would be taken against Khan.