Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir and former prime minister Imran Khan can be seen in this combo. — ISPR/PTI Instagram
ISLAMABAD: The PTI is keen to settle its issues with the military establishment but it is not clear whether the founder chairman of the party still sticks to his allegations that he has been leveling against the institution and its top leadership.
In a bid to resolve tensions, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan is quoted to have told the media on Wednesday that the PTI is for talks with the country’s powerful stakeholders ahead of the upcoming general elections, saying the party has no quarrel with the establishment and all it wants is to be heard.
“Expressing a desire to address any misunderstandings, the newly-elected PTI chairman said that the party was ready to sit across the table with the powers that be, emphasising that it wants to clear the air and establish a constructive dialogue so that the dust could finally settle down,” an English daily reported Barrister Gohar as saying on Thursday.
“PTI has no issue with anyone, including the establishment; PTI, Imran Khan and we have consistently been saying that the country is ours, the army is ours,” Barrister Gohar was quoted to have stated.
However, it is not clear as yet whether the founder chairman of the PTI Imran Khan still owns his statements and allegations against the top military commanders including the Army Chief and the institution.
Information secretary of the PTI Rauf Hasan when approached said that the PTI and Imran Khan have never been against the institution of Army and what Barrister Gohar has said is the policy of jailed PTI leader. He reminded that Khan before his arrest had constituted a committee for dialogue with the military establishment.
Rauf Hasan got upset with this correspondent when asked about Imran Khan’s today’s view about what he has been saying in the past against the Army and its key top commanders. “You are prejudiced against PTI,” he said, insisting on mentioning his view against this correspondent in the story and then disconnect the mobile call.
Before he got upset and abruptly disconnected the conversation, Hasan said that Imran Khan has been repeatedly saying that the institution of the Army is more important than him. When the secretary information of the PTI was told that Imran Khan in his statements, before and after May 9, has been targeting both the institution and its top leadership including the incumbent Army Chief, he said, “Khan never criticised the institution of Army.”
When asked about Khan’s allegations about the present Army Chief, ISI’s DG(C) and others and whether he still holds the same view, Hasan said the institution is important, not the individuals.
When this correspondent referred to Imran Khan’s post May 9 interview published in the British publication, The Guardian, which quoted Khan to have criticised Pakistan’s military, Hasan said Khan never said it and insisted the PTI’s founder chairman was misquoted.
The Guardian story - “Imran Khan accused Pakistan’s military of ordering his arrest”- dated 14 May 2023 read, “Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has escalated his criticism of the country’s powerful military, accusing the head of the army harbouring a ‘personal grudge’ against him and ordering his arrest and a crackdown on his party.”
The British newspaper even quoted Khan as saying, “Without any doubt, the military is behind my arrest. Pakistan is now being run by the army chief, the crackdown on us by the army chief.”
Khan was also quoted by The Guardian to have said, “The military is above law; the ISI is above law. And if you have anyone above the law, then you descend into the law of jungle. They can pick up people, detain people, and disappear people. They try and influence judges; they clamp down on the media. There’s no accountability for the institution, It’s not democratic.”
The Guardian story was never denied or contradicted. Even otherwise Imran Khan, PTI and the party’s social media have been targeting both the top military leadership and the institution, before and after May 9. After Imran Khan’s arrest and following crackdown against the PTI in connection with the May 9 incident, the PTI leaders stopped targeting the institution or its top commanders. However, the PTI’s social media and some of PTI’s key men, sitting abroad, are continuing with their anti-military propaganda. Of late, the PTI core committee issued a press release distancing itself from anti-military statements of such PTI persons.
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