PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi has claimed that former army chief retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had advised his party to support the PTI in a weeks-long tussle that ended with the ouster of Imran Khan as the prime minister through a no-confidence vote in April.<\/p>\n
Moonis \u2014 who was a federal minister during the PTI\u2019s tenure and whose party has remained Imran\u2019s key ally, even at the cost of rifts within the PML-Q \u2014 made the claim during Hum News programme \u2018Hum Meher Bokhari Kay Sath\u2019 on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt present, a certain section on social media has been bashing Bajwa sahib without any reason. He is the same Bajwa sahib who had bent the direction of the river\u2019s flow for the PTI,\u201d Moonis said, adding that he had had a disagreement on this with the PTI and anyone else speaking against the retired army chief.<\/p>\n
He went on to say that a man \u201cwent all out for you (PTI)\u201d, but now that he had retired, \u201che has become bad\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad he been bad, he wouldn\u2019t have asked us to back Imran.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Bokhari sought clarification on whether Gen Bajwa had asked them to support Imran, Moonis elaborated: \u201cWhen the decision was being taken on which way we have to go, we had received offers from both sides \u2014 mian sahiban [Sharif family], the PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement), as well as the PTI.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, as everyone knows, my inclination was towards the PTI. There\u2019s no doubt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moonis continued, \u201cI then had a discussion with walid sahib (his father, Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi) and walid sahib had a talk with them (an apparent reference to the military establishment).<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said, \u2018It is my wish that you side with them (PTI)\u2019. Had that man (Gen Bajwa) been bad, why would he have asked us to side with them at that critical juncture \u2026 Had that man been that bad and against Khan sahib and the PTI, [\u2026] he only had to give a signal at that juncture and we would have gone the other way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why I don\u2019t even buy this story that he is against [the PTI],\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Moonis\u2019 claim has come as PTI leaders intensified their criticism of Gen Bajwa following his retirement.<\/p>\n
In April, Pakistan saw for the first time in its history the ouster of a prime minister, Imran, through a no-confidence vote. The efforts for the PTI chief\u2019s removal were led by the then-opposition and now partners in the ruling coalition, primarily the PDM and PPP.<\/p>\n
For their part, the PTI accused the country\u2019s incumbent rulers of colluding with the US and hatching a regime change conspiracy to topple Imran\u2019s government and blamed the military, which was led by retired Gen Bajwa at the time, for letting the current dispensation in Islamabad go ahead with the alleged conspiracy.<\/p>\n
While the long-drawn saga was unfolding, the PML-Q continued to change positions before it eventually threw its weight behind Imran.<\/p>\n
In mid-March, days ahead of the voting on the no-trust motion against Imran, Parvez Elahi had expressed reservations with Imran and said during an interview with Bokhari for Hum News that the then-opposition, PDM, had the support of \u201cmore than required\u201d lawmakers to dislodge the PTI government.<\/p>\n
Elahi had gone on to say that PTI government was itself to blame for the position it was in and that it had never learned how to build relationships but instead, \u201cruined things with everyone, including its own people\u201d.<\/p>\n
Moreover, he had remarked: \u201cThe work carried out on the government\u2019s behalf never allowed it to learn things for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe child will learn to walk only when you put him down,\u201d he had said metaphorically, without taking any names. \u201cWould you keep on changing nappies all his life?\u201d<\/p>\n
In the same interview, Elahi had implied that the commitments made to his party by the PTI were not been honoured.<\/p>\n
But the very next day, he had exten\u00added an olive branch to the then-government, praising Imran for being an \u201chonest\u201d man and clarifying that neither had his party \u201cleft the government nor joined the opposition\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are allies and an independent party. There are different views among parties, but decisions are taken through mutual consultation,\u201d he had said.<\/p>\n
Eventually, the PML-Q had sided with the PTI \u2014 even as the latter\u2019s other major allies deserted it \u2014 after Usman Buzdar stepped down as the Punjab chief minister in favour of Elahi.<\/p>\n
PML-Q has repeatedly professed its loyalty toward Imran\u2019s cause and said that would dissolve the Punjab Assembly, where Elahi is chief minister, without hesitation upon the PTI chief\u2019s command.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi has claimed that former army chief retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had advised his party to support the PTI in a weeks-long tussle that ended with the ouster of Imran Khan as the prime minister through a no-confidence vote in April. Moonis \u2014 who was a federal minister during the PTI\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-298808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n