Senior journalist Rauf Klasra, while presenting his political analysis on the present rift between the government and establishment on the appointment of new director-general (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency on Hum News, said, “Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan cannot take ‘no’ for an answer.”
“I think the prime minister is offended by this. A popular leader or hero is accustomed to having ‘yes’ said to them. They cannot take ‘no’ for an answer. Our brothers in Rawalpindi [establishment] need to share the blame here. You [establishment] have made a child used to the [yes culture] in [the past] three years,” said Klasra, alluding to PM Khan.
“You [establishment] made the child habitual of hearing a ‘yes’, now you have said ‘no this cannot happen’, eventually the child will react,” added Klasra.
Klasra further said, “You [establishment] have always done fire fighting for PM Khan, managed everything for him, you did not let Khan Saab get hurt by a mere thorn. You [establishment] managed the media and the media owners [for him], you [establishment] managed anchors and politicians [for him] as well. You [establishment] managed Opposition, Parliament and Senate too, name anything [and you (establishment) managed that for him].”
Klasra went on to reveal that the establishment even helped the premier in taking down two tweets of journalists. After this statement, anchorperson Mohammad Malick interjected and said that “allegedly two tweets were asked to bring down, let’s keep it safe .”
“You [establishment] have managed so much for the premier and now if he has asked for something, he hasn’t asked for the moon, he only asked for six months extension of his favourite Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Faiz Hameed’s tenure,” said Klasra.
Klasra said that the reason for this demand of the premier wanting Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to stay as the DG ISI was for his work in Afghanistan. Adding that as per his sources, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has explained to PM Khan that “ISI is an institution, and it handles matters in Afghanistan, India, America as an institution and not on the basis of an individual. Nothing will get affected by the appointment of the new director-general. The new appointee will get the support of the institution and the situation in Afghanistan shall be handled.”
The army has always handled regional security issues, not the prime minister, said Klasra. “In my opinion, PM Khan needed Lt Gen Faiz Hameed for his personal and political issues,” said Klasra, and Malick once again interjected and said “Allegedly”.
