Veteran journalist Ansar Abbasi wrote that former army chief General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa had a lot to say about Imran Khan, his meteoric rise in politics, and how he ran his government.
Sources close to General Bajwa told Abbasi that the recently retired former general could not respond in public to what PTI chairman alleges against him because of some “codal limitations”, but these sources insisted what Khan says about Bajwa is mostly untrue.
Bajwa is now the focused target of Imran Khan, who not only sees Bajwa as the sole reason for all his failures in the government, but also alleges that the general had removed his government as part of an American conspiracy.
While Imran Khan says it was General Bajwa who was controlling the NAB and deciding the arrest and release of politicians, sources close to the former army chief insist that Khan during his premiership was paranoid against the opposition and wanted to see all his key opponents behind bars.
These sources said when General (retired) Bajwa will speak, he would have no different tale to tell than what the former DG FIA Bashir Memon had alleged about the-then prime minister Imran Khan.
Like Bashir Memon, who had alleged that he was pressured by the-then prime minister to arrest his opponents, sources told Abbasi that the former premier had also been asking General (retired) Bajwa to get a number of the-then opposition politicians arrested.
The sources said that when Bajwa asked how he could do it, Khan had referred to General Musharraf and his fashion of dealing with his political opponents during his rule. On this, Bajwa had reportedly told Imran that Musharraf was a dictator.
Bajwa told Khan to order him in writing what he desired. Khan, however, did seem to have the intestinal fortitude to do that.
These sources also allege that the NAB was controlled and managed by the-then prime minister through a duo, Barrister Shehzad Akbar and a key spymaster. These sources claimed when new DG ISI called on the-then prime minister Imran Khan, the latter asked the top spymaster about the major problem of Pakistan. Khan was told, according to these sources, “It’s the economy”. But Khan responded, “no, it’s the opposition”.
On one occasion, in the presence of several PTI ministers, the sources close to the retired General said, Bajwa reportedly warned Imran Khan against his wish of fixing all his opponents as well as many of his own party leaders. These sources, however, confirm that Bajwa had been advising the former prime minister to focus on the economy instead of his opposition.
During his government, Imran Khan himself has been heard complaining about the fear of NAB and its negative impact on economy and civilian bureaucracy. But his passionate desire to “fix” the opposition did not permit him to reform the NAB.
General Bajwa is mostly blamed for keenly pursuing what is generally referred to as “Imran Khan project”, the central component or political face of the hybrid regime experiment.
It is alleged by Khan’s opponents and many media commentators that the establishment initiated their support for Imran Khan almost a decade ago.
PTI’s 2014 sit-in was also alleged to have been a part of the “Imran Khan project”. The 2018 elections were considered massively “managed” and “engineered” in favour of Khan.
During Imran Khan’s tenure, the establishment supported him like never before. Being the prime minister, Khan repeatedly admitted it and used to praise General Bajwa as the best-ever and “most democratic” army chief.
Khan gave a three-year extension to General Bajwa, had offered another extension in March this year to save his government, and later even suggested in October 2022 to let Bajwa continue as army chief till the next general elections and formation of a new elected government.
Shortly before his retirement, General (retired) Bajwa admitted that the establishment had made mistakes in the past. He had disclosed that as an institution, the Army decided in February 2021 to get apolitical.
