Ex-army chief says Imran Khan’s ruling was threat to Pakistan
Former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa has said if Imran Khan continued as the Prime Minister, there would have been no Pakistan.
In a recent media event, Javed Bajwa said Imran Khan's ruling would have led to the eventual destruction of Pakistan, reports India Today.
Following his remarks, Imran Khan called for an internal military inquiry against the former army chief for his alleged "admission" about being involved in the ouster of the PTI government.
In a discussion, when asked about the reasons for the downfall of Khan's government, Bajwa denied any involvement and claimed that their only fault was not saving the government.
He also said that Khan himself wanted them to intervene. However, no evidence was provided by him to support this claim.
According to Bajwa, he informed Khan that there was a small margin of only two votes between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in Parliament.
He advised Khan not to resign from the National Assembly, citing the example of Khaleda Zia in Bangladesh, whose political party suffered significant damage after making a similar decision.
The retired general emphasised the importance of staying in Parliament and the possibility of forming the government again in the future. Despite receiving this message, Imran did not respond and the communication was lost.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Voice of America Urdu aired on Friday, Imran said that PML-N, PDM and the establishment are all standing on one side and together removed his government, reports Dawn.
"Gen Bajwa has admitted to the regime change since he has given his statement to a journalist about for what reasons the government was removed," Imran said.
When asked about the army chief's acknowledgement of the military's involvement in politics, Imran said, "There should be an internal army inquiry against him for the statements that he proudly and arrogantly gave that 'I made the decision because the country's conditions were such', as if he was some economic expert."
"Now he has himself said that he ousted the government because, according to whatever he said, there was a danger to the country," Imran reiterated.
He said the army should internally reflect on what happened as a result, adding that distance was created between the people and the establishment.
"The whole nation had thought that the government was ousted because of Gen Bajwa, but he himself admitted it, so now he lifted the veil from the people's suspicion and it became clear for them that the army chief removed the government."