Islamabad, Feb 12 (PTI) Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has demanded an “internal military inquiry” against ex-Army chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa for his alleged “admission” about being involved in the ouster of the government led by him.
In an interview with Voice of America Urdu aired on Friday, Khan once again said: “The PML-N, PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) and the establishment are all standing on one side … they all together removed our government and Gen Bajwa has admitted to the regime change since he has given his statement to a journalist about for what reasons the government was removed.” He was referring to Gen Bajwa’s remarks published in a recent column. In it, Bajwa said his “crime” was not stepping in to save Khan’s government. He was also quoted as saying that “these people (Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) were dangerous for the country”.
“Now he has himself said that he ousted the government because, according to whatever he said, there was a danger to the country,” Khan said.
When asked about the Army chief’s acknowledgement of the military’s involvement in politics, Khan said: “There should be an internal army inquiry against him for the statements that he proudly and arrogantly gave that ‘I made the decision because the country’s conditions were such’, as if he was some economic expert.” Khan said the leading principle of the balance of power is that the elected government that has the responsibility must also have the authority, asserting that no management system works if the two are separated.
Since his ouster from power in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence last April, Khan, 70, has had a public falling out with the military, despite previously enjoying a close relationship with the country’s most powerful institution.
He tore into Gen Bajwa, saying the ex-army chief “favoured some of the biggest crooks in the country” and did not think about corruption as a big problem.
“He wanted us to work with them. What that meant [was] giving them immunity from their corruption cases,” he claimed, adding that Gen Bajwa has a “very close” relationship with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“And, for some reason, he conspired, and this regime change took place,” Khan said in the interview aired on Saturday.
He said that the leading principle of the balance of power was that the elected government must also have the authority.
“You cannot separate responsibility and authority. So, if the authority lies with the army chief, [but] responsibility lies with the prime minister, no management system works,” he said.
Responding to a question, Khan said the new military leadership had realised that the “experiment of regime change has failed”.
“I’m sure amongst the new military leadership there is a realisation that this experiment of regime change has gone wrong. Pakistan’s economy has gone into a tailspin, we are facing the worst crisis in our history, the economic crisis, but not just that, the governance crisis, and there’s no way to get out of this,” he said. PTI MRJ AKJ MRJ
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