Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has claimed that former army chief retired General Qamar Javed Bajwa and former Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Lieutenant-General Faiz Hameed had been \u201cfacilitating\u201d PTI Chairman Imran Khan until their retirements last year.<\/p>\n
Talking on Geo News\u2019 programme \u201cNaya Pakistan\u201d last night, the minister said: \u201c[\u2026] Gen Bajwa or Gen Faiz Hamid used to facilitate him \u2014 this fact is clear as day.\u201d His comments followed party Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz\u2019s assertions on Thursday when she said the government\u2019s rule \u201cbegan on November 28\u201d, the day of Gen Bajwa\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n
In recent months, the PTI chief has been increasingly vocal about Gen Bajwa\u2019s alleged aid to his opponents \u2014 mainly the PPP and PML-N \u2014 in his ouster in April last year, more so after the general passed the baton to his successor.<\/p>\n
In a video address in December last year, he said: \u201cOne had hoped the new military leadership would have immediately disassociated from the eight months of Bajwa\u2019s fascist actions against the PTI, the media and critical journalists.\u201d<\/p>\n
A day later, former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi had reiterated his son Moonis Elahi\u2019s statement that Gen Bajwa had nudged the PML-Q \u2014 the PTI\u2019s allies till date \u2014 to support Imran and his party.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the former army chief had admitted the military\u2019s interference in the country\u2019s politics when, in his farewell address, he said the \u201carmy\u2019s interference in politics for 70 years\u201d made it the target of criticism. On the same occasion, he had then announced that the military would \u201cnever interfere in any political matter\u201d.<\/p>\n
During his interview yesterday, host Shahzad Iqbal asked Sanaullah about his thoughts on PML-N senior leader Maryam Nawaz\u2019s remarks that her party\u2019s government started after Nov 28, 2022, as prior to it there were PTI\u2019s patrons in the establishment.<\/p>\n
The minister answered: \u201cAs you know, their (PTI\u2019s) facilitators got done in November [last year]. Before that, [he was facilitated on] how to do the long march, when to do it, where to take a stop, in how many days to reach; everyone knows all these things [so] what is something new that Maryam has pointed out?\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about the cabinet\u2019s authority, Sanaullah asserted: \u201cThe cabinet was ruling as well, Shehbaz Sharif sahab was also the prime minister; all matters were [accordingly conducted] but he (Imran) was also receiving facilitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis puppet (Imran) was being saved and also being made to dance. He has been dancing till Nov 26 by sometimes holding a long march or besieging Islamabad; there was some force behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Answering the question of how the facilitation was being provided, the PML-N leader claimed Imran was being made to do \u201call agitation\u201d and was \u201cbeing provided with all the consultation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sanaullah then proceeded to comment on the army chief\u2019s appointment, which had become a much-discussed \u201ccontroversial\u201d issue involving the government and the opposition.<\/p>\n
Pointing out the minute details of the PTI\u2019s long march \u2014 such as the party caravan stopping multiple times along their route, \u201cgoing back and forth\u201d, \u201cto reach on a certain date and not the other\u201d \u2014 he claimed that all these aspects were \u201crelevant to the appointment of the army chief\u201d.<\/p>\n
When the host asked about the possible benefit to the alleged facilitators as they were \u201calready retiring\u201d, the minister retorted, \u201cWho told you they were retiring?\u201d [\u2026] No, they were absolutely not [retiring].\u201c<\/p>\n
He then hesitated to elaborate upon his remarks saying: \u201cI told you what you asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, no, they had to retire as the retirement date approached. [\u2026] The person who has gone, talking about him right now is not that [important]. It is their (PTI\u2019s) work that it was another matter when they were in power but now don\u2019t get tired of hurling abuses at them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanaullah then proceeded to assert that it was because his party was in power that they \u201cfailed\u201d Imran Khan\u2019s long marches in May and November last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has claimed that former army chief retired General Qamar Javed Bajwa and former Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Lieutenant-General Faiz Hameed had been \u201cfacilitating\u201d PTI Chairman Imran Khan until their retirements last year. Talking on Geo News\u2019 programme \u201cNaya Pakistan\u201d last night, the minister said: \u201c[\u2026] Gen Bajwa or Gen Faiz Hamid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-311751","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n