Islamabad
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had tried to delay the extension in the tenure of the country’s all-powerful army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, claimed Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif.
In an interview with Dawn News, Sharif also alleged that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was behind a social media campaign targeting the armed forces.
Sharif said Imran Khan intentionally tried to make the process of extension “controversial” but also admitted he had no solid information to back up his claims.
“The matter eventually went to the Supreme Court… in the past, army chiefs have been awarded extensions in service… all they had to do was copy-paste [from the previous summary]. No, this was all done as a deception, it was a fraud perpetrated by Imran Khan Niazi. He wanted to delay it, make a controversy out of it,” the opposition leader said.
According to Sharif, one could watch videos online that featured Imran Khan using “derogatory” language against the Pakistan army. “Nawaz Sharif never talked like this,” he added.
The interview comes amid media reports that say Imran Khan has fallen out of favour with the Pakistan Army chief.
All the escape routes for Pakistan PM are closing as the voting date or the no-confidence motion inches closer and if Imran Khan denies to put in his papers and “fight it out” then the situation in Islamabad could turn ugly, forcing General Bajwa to stomp hard on his protege.
The Pakistan Army’s top brass has reportedly asked Imran Khan to resign after the conference of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Pakistan media reports stated that the decision to oust Imran Khan was taken by General Bajwa and three other senior Lt. Generals. It was reported that all four military leaders decided not to give any escape route to Imran Khan.
