ISLAMABAD
\nFormer army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa had a long and frank discussion with senior journalists and bureaucrats during which he covered in detail the personality of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, his politics, his government and the relationship of the army with his government.
\nAs per the informed sources, the former army chief also talked about his relationship with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and he told the journalists about who ousted Nawaz Sharif and why and who brought Imran Khan to power.
\nHe said that the best relationship of his career was with Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. \u201cNawaz Sharif trusted me so much that he assigned me the task of improving relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). I went there and delivered,\u201d he maintained.
\nIn response to some questions, General (r) Qamar Javed Bajwa discreetly accepted that Nawaz Sharif had been wronged, and he also accepted that Nawaz Sharif had been ousted by the military establishment.
\nHe criticised some of the policies of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and also the Pakistani bureaucracy. \u201cThe Chinese themselves came to meet me and complained \u2018we cannot work with your bureaucracy. They deliberately create problems and complications for us\u2019,\u201d he claimed.
\nThe former army chief also talked about Imran Khan\u2019s visit to Russia and said: \u201cWhen I came to the meeting, the entire cabinet including Asad Umar said in unison that there should be a visit to Russia. So, I also agreed while the fact of the matter is that we do not have any trade with Russia, nor does it support us at world forums,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cOn the contrary, Putin used Imran Khan. He had waged a war on Ukraine, and through Imran Khan\u2019s visit, Putin gave an impression to the world that Pakistan is with Russia in that war,\u201d he stated. He later termed the cipher conspiracy and the \u201cabsolutely not\u201d narrative a blatant lie and bogus propaganda, stating that such political stunts and lies had caused damage to Pakistan.
\n\u201cTwo meetings were held with Imran Khan on the cipher issue, and we had fully explained to him about it. But, Imran Khan deliberately tried to cause damage to Pakistan by raising this issue for political gain,\u201d the former army chief maintained.
\n\u201cYes! We brought Imran Khan to power, and for that purpose we went to the level so embarrassing that we were labelled as selectors. As a \u2018reward\u2019, I got the label of traitor after serving the army for so many years,\u201d he admitted.
\nWhile talking about Lt-Gen (r) Faiz Hameed, the former army chief said Faiz himself had come to him, adding that Faiz had requested to command the corps to join the race for the army chief.
\n\u201cI agreed. But when I issued a notification to appoint Faiz Hameed as Corp Commander Peshawar and Lt-Gen Nadeem Anjum the Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Imran Khan stopped the notification and put us in a strange situation,\u201d he stated.
\n\u201cNow, Imran Khan is telling another lie that he was the prime minister, and the army was running the government. [But] Imran Khan used to make all the decisions himself. He selected incompetent and useless people who did not have the capacity to deliver,\u201d he added.
\nHe also referred to former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar and said: \u201cThe people of the PTI and the allied parties had been coming to me for a year. They would ask me to tell Imran Khan that this is not how the country works, and I also told Imran Khan several times to meet your disgruntled party leaders and allies and address their concerns.\u201d
\n\u201cBut, he did not take anything seriously. I had also warned Imran Khan six months ago about the motion of no-confidence and told him that the military establishment cannot bear the stigma anymore and be neutral from now on,\u201d he stated.
\n\u201cWe had decided to stay away from politics or government, and this decision had been taken by everyone in the Corps Commanders Conference. Imran Khan was also told that Asif Ali Zardari was very active in Islamabad, and he was asked to engage with his party leaders,\u201d he added.
\nDuring the discussion, General (r) Qamar Javed Bajwa looked at senior journalist Hamid Mir and said: \u201cMir Sahib, you had written an article about the no-confidence motion a year ago, but Imran Khan did not become serious even then. And when it came, he came to me running to save him. I told him that the military had decided to be neutral. Since then, Imran Khan is angry with us and tells lies on a daily basis.\u201d
\n\u201cIn the end, Imran Khan sought my help in putting the entire opposition leadership in jail. I said sorry to him and told him I cannot do that as the army chief. I told Imran Khan if I have to do all this, I have to sit in his seat,\u201d he claimed.
\nGeneral (r) Qamar Bajwa said he had told Imran Khan: \u201cThis is not our job, and it does not happen in any country. These decisions have to be made by the government and the courts. Keep us away from this.\u201d He added: \u201cImran Khan was not happy with my answer.\u201d \u2014 DNA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa had a long and frank discussion with senior journalists and bureaucrats during which he covered in detail the personality of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, his politics, his government and the relationship of the army with his government. As per the informed sources, the former […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-322403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n