Islamabad: Pakistan’s armed forces have taken serious notice of the organised “malicious propaganda” and “disinformation campaign” against the military and stressed that such moves would never be allowed to succeed.
Pakistani social media has been witnessing hashtags and trends against the new administration following the ouster of former prime minister Imran Khan’s government in a dramatic political upheaval.
Military is apolitical
In a detailed press conference on Thursday, armed forces spokesperson Major General Babar Iftikhar strongly asserted that the military will not interfere in politics as “democracy is the future of Pakistan.”
When asked if the armed forces played any role in the current political scenario, he strongly rejected the claims and asked the journalist “if there is any evidence, bring it forward.”
Gen Iftikhar added that the word neutral doesn’t appropriately describe the army’s stance. The military is “apolitical” and there is no political affiliation or interference.
During the question-answer session, he also explained that the meeting between the military and civilian leadership discussed three political scenarios with Imran Khan since the country’s “political leadership was not ready to talk” with each other. The three options discussed were early elections, a no-confidence vote or the prime minister’s resignation of which Khan considered elections the best option but the then opposition rejected the proposal and decided to go for voting.
DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Gen Iftikhar put the rumours to rest, and clarified that the Pakistan army chief Gen Bajwa “is neither seeking extension nor will he accept it, no matter what.” He will retire in November 2022, he said. The ex-premier Imran Khan had approved the three-year extension in the tenure of Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in August 2019. He was appointed as the chief of army staff by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in November 2016.
US bases controversy
Responding to a question about US bases in Pakistan, the DG ISPR said that “they never asked for bases” but if the United States had demanded military bases from Pakistan “the army’s response would be the same as the previous government.”
Conspiracy or interference?
Referring to the letter-gate issue, General Babar Iftikhar said that the word “conspiracy” was not used in the statement issued by the National Security Committee (NSC) last month. Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan claimed that there was a US-led conspiracy to remove him. The former government dismissed the vote of no confidence and dissolved the parliament based on the document (believed to be a diplomatic cable) which Pakistan’s top security body NSC in its March 31 statement said “amounted to blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan.”
On the question of courts opening at midnight and speculations of martial law on April 9 night when Khan lost the confidence vote, the spokesperson said there was absolutely no possibility of martial law in the country now or in future and added the judiciary was independent in its decisions.
