PML-N Vice-president Maryam Nawaz on Thursday said that the army chief should be a person who had a “flawless reputation”, free from any criticism or doubts.
Maryam made these remarks in a press conference outside the Islamabad High Court on Thursday while answering a question about Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s comments, wherein he had said that former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed’s name could be considered for the new army chief.
“If his name is on the seniority list, it will definitely be considered,” Asif had said in an interview with the BBC.
The PML-N leader has been critical of Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, who served as the ISI chief from June 16, 2019, to Oct 19, 2021, and is currently posted as the Peshawar corps commander.
Addressing a rally last week in Fateh Jang, Maryam had criticised Gen Hameed while referring to Imran Khan’s recent podcast appearance where he had said the intelligence chief was the “eyes and ears” of the government.
The PML-N leader had said: “We know that he wasn’t your eyes and ears [rather] he was your hands through which you throttled your political opponents.”
In her media talk today, she said that the army was a respectable institution for the country and its people. “The nation looks at the army for the unity and security of Pakistan. So it is important that the army chief is a person who is worthy and stainless so that people salute the Pakistan Army.”
Maryam added that it was a “good thing” that the military had decided to stay away from politics and limit itself to its constitutional role, something politicians had struggle for.
“But there’s only one man who has a problem with this … who has gotten used to cheating, who doesn’t have feet of his own and needs support,” she said. “And it suits him to drag institutions into politics and make them controversial. It’s only one man and his name is Imran Khan.”
