—- Says Gen. Bajwa (retd.) showed PML-Q the path to support PTI
—- Claims Bajwa convinced his party to ally with PTI instead of PDM
—- Earlier, Imran Khan blamed ex COAS of playing double game
—- Govt officials lash out at Imran for Gen Bajwa comments
DM MONITORING
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has endorsed his son Moonis Elahi’s statement that former army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa suggested that his PML-Q party should support PTI during opposition’s no-confidence motion against Imran Khan in March this year.
In an interview with a local TV channel on Sunday, CM Elahi said Gen Bajwa told him that going with Imran was a better option after he shared his reservations about joining PDM alliance as he “did not trust Sharif family”.
Elahi said he was wary of accepting the then opposition led by Sharif family’s offer to become Punjab Chief Minister in return for supporting no-trust motion against Imran Khan.
“I knew that they [Sharif] would not let me to continue [as Chief Minister] as they have betrayed me in the past,” he remarked.
The PML-Q leader said his son Moonis played a major role in convincing him to support PTI instead of joining Pakistan Democratic Movement alliance.
Moreover, Elahi said the then army chief, Gen (retd) Bajwa showed “him the right path” to support PTI.
Speaking on a private TV channel earlier this week, Moonis Elahi revealed that “there has not been any contact with the new military leadership” however, he added that the former COAS Gen (retd) Bajwa “had turned the tides in favour of PTI”.
“This is my point of contention with PTI and anyone who calls him a traitor,” he continued, “he was seen as perfectly fine when he was going in their support and now he is called a turncoat”.
“I have offered the PTI to come on TV and prove to me that he [Bajwa] is a traitor and I will show you just how much the man did for you.”
He went on to claim that there was “no doubt” about it that “the man had gone all out for you [PTI]”; but the minute he “removed himself then he became the bad guy”. “If he was the bad guy, he would have never told me to support Imran Khan,” Moonis said.
On Saturday, Imran said that he had committed a “big mistake” by granting Gen Bajwa an extension and also accused the former army chief of engaging in “double games”, double speak, mixed messages and more, alleging that Gen Bajwa denied everything when asked about the establishment’s contact with the then-opposition.
Answering a question about Moonis’s claim, Imran had explained: “Moonis was asked to support Imran Khan, while the other one [Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain] had been asked to go to PML-N. Gen Bajwa was playing a double game and I could later identify that even PTI’s different men were being given different messages.”
Meanwhile, government officials including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called out Imran for his comments regarding the former Army Chief.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also lashed out at the PTI chief, saying that his politics was aimed at making his way to power even if it meant “undermining foundations this country stands on”.
PML-N stalwart and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said during a press conference in Lahore: “He (Imran) is a person who says every day that he did a mistake. ‘Going to Russia was my mistake, the army chief’s extension was my mistake’.
“If you committed one mistake and we consider the extension a mistake as Khan sahab is saying, so why did you feel the need to offer an extension again?”
Rebuking Imran, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that Imran, through his interviews, was “creating a drama of being deceived by the establishment”.
Iqbal said that “everyone knows the reality” of how the establishment “helped” the PTI come to power in the 2018 general elections, only to distance itself from the party after the PTI’s “failure upon failure”.
