Imran Khan isn’t supposed to give consultations to Prime Minister on appointment of Army Chief: Khawaja Asif
SIALKOT, Oct 30 (SABAH): Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Imran Khan isn’t supposed to give consultations to Prime Minister on appointment of Army Chief and that Chairman PTI Imran Khan started the long march from Lahore with 10,000 people which was reduced to 3,500 at Muridke.
Khawaja Asif said this in a press conference in Sialkot. He said that the country’s politics has come to a turning point and the month of November will prove to be politically decisive. He said that how many people participated in the Tehreek-e-Insaaf gathering is in front of everyone. He said the real face of Imran Khan has come before the people and the process has started. He said the as per Constitution of the country appointment of the army chief is the responsibility of the prime minister.
He said where did it come to Imran Khan’s mind that the appointment of the army chief is done with political consultation. He said 77 solider and officers of Pakistan forces embraced martyrdom in the last four months forces. The defence minister said that Imran Khan is not even a part of the Parliament anymore and the PTI chairman has no involvement in the appointment of the army chief. He said that Imran Khan has put his narrative on the establishment and there is nothing left for him.
He alleged that Imran Khan was using the death of journalist Arshad Shar if who was murdered in Kenya earlier this week to gain a political advantage. “I am not indicating that someone is involved [in the murder] but a commission has been formed and if Imran has some evidence, he should not withhold information this is also a crime,” he added.
Sharif was shot dead in Kenya allegedly by the local police on Sunday night, with an official police statement later expressing “regrets on the unfortunate incident” and saying an investigation was underway.
Initially, Kenyan media quoted the local police as saying Sharif was shot dead by police in a case of “mistaken identity”. Subsequently, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a judicial commission to probe the murder.
After the incident was reported, Imran — at a lawyer’s convention in Peshawar — had claimed that Sharif was a victim of a targeted killing.
“He never spared any mafia. He exposed these two families (Sharif and Zardari families) in every programme with proof but no one could scare or buy him … then he started getting threats from unknown numbers to ’not say this or speak the truth when he started exposing this regime.
“Then I received information that they were about to kill him. They invaded his home and scared him in front of his family just so that he doesn’t speak the truth,” Imran said, adding that he had then advised Sharif to leave the country.
In reference to Imran’s remarks, the defence minister said that Imran’s statements regarding Sharif’s killing reflected that he had some evidence and urged the PTI chief to appear before the commission.
“If he [Imran] doesn’t come himself, he will be called,” he asserted. “I will not go to the extent of saying that he is involved [in the crime], but I will say that time will tell who is the culprit. “He should either appear before the commission or shut up,” Asif said.
The minister also alleged that the anti-establishment statements Imran had been passing for the last few days were being celebrated by the Indian media.
After kicking off his long march towards Islamabad on Friday, the PTI chief — from atop his container — had contended that the recent press conference held by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum was “more political than Sheikh Rashid” as he warned that if he started spilling facts, it would jeopardise the country and army’s reputation.
Imran had also called out two other army officers for playing the role of a certain “Dirty Harry” for picking up and torturing party senator Azam Swati. Seeking the attention of army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, the PTI chief said these officers were tarnishing the image of the institution.
Criticising the former premier’s incriminations, Asif said that no leader had ever crossed the lines Imran had despite differences.
“Our army protects the benefit of the country, not of politicians even politicians protect their country with their blood, but you don’t even do it verbally. You are thankless. “You have crossed many red lines and now you have crossed this line of the blood of martyrs,” he added.
During his press conference, Asif also debunked reports of negotiations taking place between the government and the PTI. He noted that a statement was made from the container that negotiations were taking place in Lahore while a TV channel had reported about Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah arriving for a meeting.
“There are no negotiations taking place right now,” he asserted, revealing that PTI lawmakers were approaching the government with the objective of abandoning Imran and wanted guarantees for their seats.
Asif downplayed the PTI long march, claiming that a mere few thousand people were attending it. He warned that the safety of the marcher fell upon the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab as “98 per cent” of the route is in those two provinces. “The last 2pc of the route is in Islamabad, so if there’s any bloodshed, it’s on those two governments,” he added.