Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan once again vilified former army chief General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa. This time, Khan is claiming that the former army chief had “hired” former Pakistani ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani for lobbying against him and his PTI in the US.
Speaking to a chosen coterie of journalists in Lahore on Sunday, the PTI chief alleged that Haqqani was tasked with campaigning against “me while promoting General Qamar”. He also claimed that General (retired) Bajwa’s “set-up was still working in the establishment”.
Without taking names, Khan alleged that in Pakistan, the establishment is “the name of one person”.
The PTI chairman maintained that the establishment could play an “important role in pulling the country out of the current chaos”, adding that fresh general elections were the only way out of the current crises.
“The country can only progress when the army and all political parties are on the same page,” Khan underscored. He reiterated that relations between him and the former army chief turned sour because General (retired) Bajwa “did not want accountability in the country”.
Imran Khan disclosed that General Bajwa called him a “playboy” in their last meeting. At this, Khan said that he replied: “Yes, I have been a playboy.”
Continuing his diatribe against the former army chief, Khan alleged that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja used to do what Gen (retd) Qamar would tell him to do. Even Gen (retd) Qamar was controlling the issue of electronic voting machine. “Gen (retd) Qamar was 100% behind the CEC,” he claimed.
To another question, Khan said that General (retired) Bajwa was “expressing solidarity with him after stabbing him in the back”.
“Our [PTI’s] three members of the Punjab Assembly had been asked to remain neutral on the no-trust motion filed by the collation government against Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi,” the PTI chairman asserted.
“The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) factions are being united, and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leaders are being included in the PPP [to counter the PTI in the next election]. However, this will not help the country,” Khan said.
