Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has acknowledged that a meeting took place between him, Pakistan Army’s chief General Bajwa, ISI chief General Nadeem Mukhtar and DGCI General Faiz Hameed in 2018, in which the ‘military establishment’ offered to make him prime minister.
Speaking to Hamid Mir, Pakistani premier Shehbaz Sharif admitted that he was made this offer by then Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa. In an earlier public speech, Hamid Mir had alluded to such a meeting having taken place.
Prime minister Sharif said he responded to this offer by saying, “Nawaz Sharif is my elder brother and leader. Disagreement is the beauty of politics. I give them my opinion.”
“But if someone thinks that I will become prime minister by stabbing my brother, then I sacrifice the prime ministership ten times.”
Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said he told the generals that “Pakistan’s interests are important to me, and I cannot accept this offer.”
Also read: I Was Threatened With Martial Law In November 2022: PM Shehbaz
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has revealed that he was threatened with a martial law in Nov last year, just a week prior to the appointment of the new army chief of the country.
“During the last week before new army chief’s appointment, there was a point when I though martial law was going to be imposed,” the premier said during an interview with journalist Hamid Mir, on Tuesday.
Mir confirmed that he had also been ‘directly’ warned of the possibility of martial law, in response to the premier’s stance.
Replacing Nawaz
Shehbaz, who is also the president of the PML-N, made it clear in the presence of Gen Bajwa, Gen Naveed Mukhtar, and Gen Faiz Hameed that if anyone thought that he would stab his brother [Nawaz] in the back to become the prime minister, he could sacrifice 10 such ministries for him.
He told Mir that Nawaz is his brother and his leader, and is like a father to him, adding that it is a part of politics and democracy to have a difference of opinion.
Read this too: Imran Khan’s Ouster: Why Did The Hybrid Regime Collapse?
The premier further said that in such a situation, he conveys his stance to his brother behind closed doors or during a meeting of the close aides.
“Sometimes, he approves of my stance while at other times, he doesn’t; he is a leader and it is his decision to make,” he remarked.
Asim Munir as COAS
When asked if the first summary received for the appointment of the army chief actually didn’t have Gen Asim’s name in it, he confirmed that the summary was indeed delayed by the military.
However, he maintained, when the summary reached me, it had Gen Syed Asim Munir’s name on the top.
Cases against Imran
The premier said that he didn’t file a single case against Imran Khan during his term, saying the law is in action against him as part of the process.
On the other hand, he added, Imran and his supporters tried to push us to the wall during his own term.
Imran spoke indecently about the judiciary and is now trying to use excuses to avoid an arrest, he said.
Few questions arise. So Militablishment was the king makers and head hunting at the time. Was it before or after elections?
That in retrospect now seems like a bad decision for the country at large. Since if PMLN had continued in 2018 by now we would have seen the impact of PMLN economic policy on the state for almost ten year and would be in a better position to decide should we trust it in future or let someone else have a go.
Also Imran would have organically grown as a politician rather then to have sold his soul to the devil and the mess that has followed.