-Says extending Bajwa’s tenure was a ‘blunder’
-Fears the possibility of rigging in elections
-Lambastes the postings, transfers in Punjab
From Abid Usman
LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan claimed on Tuesday efforts to debar him underway in bid to bring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif back to “the country’s political scenario.”
Talking to journalists of foreign media, the deposed premier spoke of his “Jail Bharo Movement,” saying it was the peaceful move-ment, during which he would be the first to surrender. “It will take me two more weeks to recover completely from the injuries, after which I will lead the movement by myself,” added Mr Khan.
Speaking of the peace in Afghanistan, Mr Khan took a dig at Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, saying, “Mr Bhutto-Zardari could go to the United States for lunch. But, he is not willing to land in Afghanistan for the sake of peace.”
Recalling his ouster, Mr Khan claimed that this was for the first time in the country’s history that the masses had denounced a re-gime change.
Talking about the Punjab’s political situation, Mr Khan lamented, “Such people were imposed in the province, who were responsi-ble for the May 25 incident.”
Mr Khan feared the possibility of rigging in the elections. He recalled the demand for holding elections within 90 days, adding that it was up to the concerned institutions to ensure the holding of the polls.
Moreover, Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday has asserted that his decision to extend former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s tenure in 2019 was a ‘blunder’.
Speaking to international media, the former premier continued his criticism of Gen (retd) Qamar Javad Ba-jwa, saying that terming the extension of former army chief’s tenure a ‘blunder’
Imran Khan claimed that ex-COAS Bajwa acquired the services of former Pakistani ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani to lobby against him in United States. “For the first time in Pakistan’s history, the people did not accept the regime change,” he said.
In response to a question, the PTI chairman lambasted the postings and transfers in Punjab following the dis-solution of provincial assembly, saying that such people were being appointed who were involved in ‘vio-lence’ during party’s May 25 long march.
Imran Khan said he feared the upcoming by-elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) will be rigged. He added that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif wants his disqualifi-cation.
Speaking of the terror wave, the former premier said that the country cannot afford terrorism. However, he said, the incumbent government in Afghanistan was not anti-Pakistan.
Earlier in February, Imran Khan said that he was on same page with former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, till the later demanded an NRO for the ‘political opponents’.
The then-government and Establishment were on the same page during the coronavirus pandemic and the “world lauded our policies’.
Imran Khan said that the ties with Gen Bajwa strained when the latter demanded an NRO for the ‘political opponents’. “The former army chief was against the accountability drive as he demanded an NRO and chang-es in National Accountability Bureau (NAB),” he alleged.
The former prime minister noted that his whole struggle was for the supremacy of law and justice. He claimed that his relations with Gen Bajwa were further strained over the removal of retd Lt Gen Faiz Hameed as Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
