Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, has claimed that former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa was very close to current Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif.
“There was information that General Bajwa was in contact with Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif. The plan was to bring Shehbaz Sharif [into power] and remove me,” said Khan in an interview with GNN.
“Ishaq Dar, Nawaz Sharif’s sons and Shehbaz Sharif’s son-in-law fled during his tenure. In the beginning, there were a lot of doubts, we couldn’t understand,” he revealed.
“When I see it now, it becomes clear that Bajwa doctrine was to not allow anyone to strengthen so much that they can’t be controlled,” he stated.
Talking about the current political situation, he claimed a “game” is still being played to stop him from coming back to power “by all means”.
“Even if you stop Imran Khan [from coming to power], how will you fix the issues faced by the country?” he asked.
Imran Khan has been criticizing General Bajwa since the latter retired on November 26 in 2022. However, in a press conference held in November, it was alleged by Director General Inter-Services Intelligence, General Nadeem Anjum, that Imran Khan had secretly met General Bajwa and offered him an extension in his tenure.
Punjab Sports Minister Rai Taimur Khan has announced the immediate start of the construction of a stadium in the village of national hero Arshad Nadeem.
The minister also said that he would welcome Arshad Nadeem himself. He added that a grand ceremony will be organised in honour of all the athletes who won medals at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022, including Nadeem.
He said they have facilitated Arshad Nadeem and will continue doing the same in the future. Further, the minister said that the provincial sports board will continue to take vigorous measures for the promotion of sports.
Arshad Nadeem made the nation proud by claiming the gold medal in the ongoing CWS in England after a record-breaking effort.
In the fifth attempt, the Khanewal-born star set a new CWG record of a 90.18m throw and became the first Pakistani to hold the record.
Following the victory, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and others congratulated him.
Director General Pakistan Sports Board Asif Zaman also announced a reward of Rs50 lakh for Arshad Nadeem.
Sindh Provincial Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said: “Before the next Olympics, I am ready to send Nadeem, who won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, to Germany for training at my own expense for two years.”
اگلے اولمپک سے پہلے میں دو سال کے لیے کامن ویلتھ گیمز میں گولڈ میڈل جیتنے والے پاکستان کے فخر ارشد ندیم کو ذاتی خرچ سے جرمنی ٹریننگ کے لیے بھجوانے کو تیار ہوں ۔ پاکستان کے لیے اس سے زیادہ فخر کی کوئ بات نہیں ہوسکتی کہ یہ گولڈ میڈلز جیتتے رہیں ۔ پاکستان زندہ باد۔ #ArshadNadeem
— Syed Nasir Hussain Shah (@SyedNasirHShah) August 7, 2022
On International Women’s Day, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa said that Pakistani women have contributed immensely for the glory and honour of our nation.
“They are also at the forefront against COVID. Women in uniform have proved their mettle by contributing copiously in diverse fields serving the nation and humanity. They deserve our immense respect and gratitude,” General Bajwa added.
COAS’ message on Women’s Day was tweeted by DG ISPR’s official account.
“Pakistani women contributed immensely 4 glory & honour of our nation. They are also @ forefront against COVID. Women in uniform have proved their mettle by contributing copiously in diverse fields serving the nation & humanity. They deserve our immense respect & gratitude” COAS
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that Pakistan is fully committed to the ideals of mutual respect and peaceful co-existence as it is a peace-loving country.
He was addressing the graduation ceremony of 144th GD (P), 90th Engineering Course, and 100th AD courses held at Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Academy Asghar Khan, said a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The country has rendered great sacrifices for regional and global peace, said Gen Bajwa, adding that it is time to extend “hand of peace in all directions”.
The army chief also talked about the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir conflict. Pakistan and India should also resolve the longstanding issue of Jammu and Kashmir in a dignified and peaceful manner as per the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir and bring this human tragedy to its logical conclusion, the army chief emphasised.
“However, we will not allow anybody or any entity to misinterpret our desire for peace as a sign of weakness,” he added.
The army chief said that the armed forces were fully prepared to thwart any threat. The coordination and harmony displayed by all the three services in operations against the enemies of Pakistan had brought great improvement in the internal security environment, he said.
A rather tough year has came to an end, surprisingly, in the blink of an eye.
But while it negates the belief that hard times pass slow, here are all the major updates that added to the very happening COVID-19-infected year as most of the world stayed indoors.
Extension for Gen Bajwa
After some drama following earlier reservations, the Supreme Court (SC) on November 28, 2019 approved a short 6-month extension in General Bajwa’s term as the chief of army staff.
Subsequently, on January 7, 2020, the National Assembly passed three bills concerning the tenure of the three services chiefs — chief of army staff, chief of air staff and chief of naval staff — and the chairman of the joint chief of staff committee.
Gen Bajwa was granted extension up to three years till November 29, 2022.
Surprisingly though, the two major opposition parties — PML-N and PPP — were on board for the changes which was why the bills faced no resistance even in the opposition-dominated Senate.
Smooth sailing of the Army Act was also what prompted Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda to bring with him an army boot to a live talkshow.
Coronavirus
After wreaking havoc in China and beginning to do the same in Europe as well as the worst-hit US, the first case of COVID-19 was reported from Karachi on February 26, 2020. Hundreds of thousands of infections and several deaths were reported.
Prominent figures were also on the list of COVID-19 patients.
While Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s smart lockdowns stay in place to deal with the pandemic but not at the cost of livelihoods, it is too early to predict what 2021 would hold for Pakistan with vaccines rolling out but also the discovery of a new strand of the virus.
Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said the pilots of the Karachi-bound PK8308 flight of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from Lahore were distracted while talking about coronavirus.
The passenger plane came down on houses in Karachi with only two survivors. Subsequent investigations into the licenses of Pakistani pilots led to the grounding of hundreds across the globe and the imposition of a temporary ban on PIA flights to Europe and the United States (US).
While blame games continued as authorities hesitated to take responsibility for the misery of people of the country’s largest city, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said it wanted all stakeholders to contribute to ameliorating the situation instead of politicising a “pure natural disaster”.
The situation was improved after the intervention of the federal government and a military-aided rescue operation.
Opposition Alliance
The year also witnessed a rather common sight in Pakistan when opposition parties put their differences aside in an attempt to oust the PTI government.
After a round of meetings, almost all opposition parties, including PPP, PML-N, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl), Awami National Party, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Balochistan National Party among others, launched a series of countrywide protests.
The foremost demand of the 11-party alliance, named Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), is the resignation of “selected” Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan. It has threatened to march to Islamabad if the premier doesn’t resign before midnight on December 31 (today).
While the opposition seems satisfied with its anti-government campaign, the government is confident of cracks emerging within PDM ranks before it could pose an actual threat.
Khadim Rizvi’s Death
Renowned cleric and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi passed away on November 19.
Earlier it was reported that he was suffering from high-grade fever for the past couple of days, which had led to speculations if he was suffering from COVID-19.
While the cause of his sudden death was not determined, his funeral prayers in Lahore were attended by hundreds of thousands of supporters from across the globe, adding to COVID-19 superspreader event fears.
Rizvi, who had returned from a sit-in protest against French president’s take on blasphemy a day before his death, was known for his aggressive speeches besides promotion of extremist element in the religio-political landscape of the country.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that there is a lot of anger in the military over the tirades of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif against the army, but the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, is putting up with it for the “sake of democracy”.
The PM made these comments in an interview on Samaa TV. “I praise Gen Bajwa today. To attack an army chief in this manner definitely provokes a reaction from the army,” he added.
The PM said that Gen Bajwa was “uncomplicated man”. “If someone else was at the helm of the army, there would have been a strong response by now,” Imran said.
The PM said the opposition was accusing him of being a “puppet” of the establishment, yet they wanted to talk to the establishment. “This means they’re putting pressure on the army to remove a democratic government. This is [their] democratic movement,” he added.
Imran said that asking the military to remove a democratically-elected government was a case of “treason”, as Article 6 applies to this. “The opposition’s second demand is that if the army and ISI chiefs do not remove me, then the army should remove them [the chiefs of army and ISI],” he added.
According to the prime minister, the army was a state department that was subordinate to his government. He said the military has always stood by him in times of crisis.
Speaking on the former government’s troubled relationships with the establishment, Imran said Nawaz was “manufactured by the army against the PPP”. He said he himself received a message from military ruler Gen Ziaul Haq in 1988 that he wanted to make him (Imran) the prime minister.
He said the establishment had helped the PML-N supremo in the 2013 elections but their ties became strained because the establishment did not support him in 2018.
The ex-PM, who is in a self-imposed exile in London, has called out the army many times for its involvement in manipulating the general elections in 2018 to bring Imran Khan to power. Addressing a rally in Gujranwala in Oct, the former PM had called out Gen Bajwa and ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed for alleged manipulation of election results.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has distanced himself from a statement by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif accusing Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa of “hijacking elections”.
The PPP chief alluded to remarks made by Nawaz during a rally in Gujranwala held by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) last month. During the speech, the former PM had called out Gen Bajwa and ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed for alleged manipulation of election results.
In an interview with BBC Urdu, Bilawal said the statement “shocked” him because the use of such language during the public gathering was unprecedented. “But if Nawaz Sharif names these generals, he must have evidence to back these claims up,” said the PPP chief, adding that hopefully, the PML-N supreme leader would bring forward relevant evidence.
The PPP chief said the PDM was not in favour of naming generals, so a consensus was reached to use the term “establishment”. However, it is Nawaz Sharif’s right to call these people out if he wants to, added Bilawal.
He said the deployment of the military inside and outside the polling was wrong, so was the dam fund campaign of former chief justice Saqib Nisar in the lead-up to the polls. “So, due to the prevalence of such activities, we can not say Imran was brought to power by an individual.”
The PPP chief also shot down reports regarding his party’s lack of interest in the PDM. He said the PPP stood by the commitments made at the time of the formation of the joint opposition alliance.
Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has revealed that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa had held a meeting with him in November 2018 to discuss the economic issues prevalent at the time, especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
Abbasi revealed the details of the meeting in a talk show on Samaa TV. According to the lawmaker, who has also served as a petroleum minister in the cabinet of Nawaz Sharif, PML-N leaders Khawaja Asif and Miftah Ismail were also present in the meeting. “The details of such meetings are usually kept confidential, but now that they are being publicised I don’t see any harm in telling the details,” the ex-PM added.
The army chief wanted the opinion of the PML-N lawmakers on the economy in the light of growing inflation and a tanking economy, Abbasi said.
“We relayed our reservations on the state of the economy to the army chief,” he told anchorperson Nadeem Malik. “We told the army chief that Pakistan would face tremendous economic pressure within next three years due to the policies of the incumbent regime,” he said, adding that the government took six months to wreck the economy.
Last week, former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair revealed the details of the meeting with Gen Bajwa. Muhammad Zubair, who has been appointed as party supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz’s spokesperson, revealed further details of his “secret meeting” with Gen Bajwa.
In an exclusive interview with The Current, Zubair said that he isn’t a big fan of gulab jamun but that’s what they had for dessert the night he met Gen Bajwa over dinner.“I’m not a gulab jamun person but I couldn’t say no to him [Gen Bajwa] since he is a dignitary… he is the COAS,” the former Sindh governor said when asked about the details of his meeting that was also reportedly attended by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General (DG) Lt Gen Faiz Hameed.
