The top leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in a joint presser addressed the many thing pointed out by the Director General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum and DG of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) DG Major General Babar Iftikhar in an unprecedented press conference which took place earlier today.
Asad Umar started by stating that Khan “owned” both the army and the country, stressing that the PTI Chairman has never uttered a word to weaken the institution. “But will Imran Khan agree with every decision taken by the army? Are there actions or decisions that he criticises it on? Absolutely. This is his constitutional right,” he insisted.
“Imran Khan [does not] agree with every decision of the armed forces. Are there some decisions or actions [of the armed forces] that he criticises? Yes, he definitely does that,” said Asad Umar.
Umar said the Constitution empowers the PTI chief to criticise the military. “But all that criticism, in Khan’s eyes, is directed towards the betterment of the country and the military,” he said.
Talking about Imran’s backdoor meetings that the DG ISI had disclosed, the PTI leader asked: “What were the unconstitutional demands made in those meetings? The demands have been in front of the public since forever.”
“We believe there is immense political and economic instability in Pakistan, which will only be sorted with early elections. For this, if one tells the institutions, as they hold a lot of power and influence politically, to hold general elections, it might not be okay with you [establishment]. Still, there is nothing unconstitutional in this demand,” said Umar to DG ISI’s accusations of Khan making unconstitutional demands.
When talking about Imran’s thinly veiled criticism of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) the DG ISI in his press conference earlier today had asked, “If you see him as a traitor, then why do you meet him through the back door? […] Don’t meet him quietly at night through the back door and express your unconstitutional wishes but call him a traitor in broad daylight. That’s a big contradiction between your words and your actions.”
Umar said the PTI chairman owns the armed forces and the nation and he has “never” maligned the armed forces abroad — whether in the United Kingdom or the United States.
Answering a question Asad said that there is a lot of closed door talk which Imran Khan knows but hasn’t revealed. Discussing what the party leader had told Umar, the former Minister said that his leader said he too has a lot to speak about but isn’t doing so.
“[In their press conference, the military officials] said that levelling allegations against the institution’s leadership was inappropriate […] but I would like to ask that if the leadership of the armed forces has its importance, then doesn’t the reputation of country’s biggest leader matter?” questioned Umar in relevance to Khan.
The PTI leader praised the armed forces for sticking to their Constitutional role, but asked the military what were the unconstitutional demands that Khan made during closed-door meetings.
“The political, economic, and social crises that are taking place in the country are unprecedented and early elections are the only solution for it,” Umar said.
But Umar noted that Khan had demanded the military to use its influence for stability in the country, and it is not “unconstitutional”. “All the things that are being discussed behind closed doors aren’t secret. Imran Khan has discussed them in rallies and press conferences.”
“However, it is important to seek answers as to why this situation is arising in the country. We need to think about it, but when we will take a look at the events that transpired, we will see that institutions have also made some mistakes,” he added.
“DG ISI said that then-prime minister Imran Khan told him that the then-opposition leader was the biggest problem in the country. He was right, it has been proven via literature that the law should be upheld otherwise a country cannot progress,” Umar said.
Umar added that the DG ISI mentioned that in the past, Pakistan was divided into two parts due to “hatred”. “It happened because the wishes of the people were not respected,” he said.
