PTI attempts 'U-turn' on Imran Khan's statement regarding Gen Bajwa's advice

A day after former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said that he dissolved the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies on the advice of former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa, his party attempted to take a "U-turn" from their leader's position.

The party's official Twitter account posted a screenshot of a Geo News' report regarding Khan's statement. It claimed that the report was "fake news". 

"Lifafas (paid journalists) are misleading the people once again! PTI Chairman referred to all past statements of PDM regarding dissolution of assemblies. Absolutely not what is being portrayed by some media persons," the tweet claimed.

However, Geo News reported Khan's statement based on the interview he gave to the private news channel in which he clearly said that he dissolved the Punjab and KP assemblies on the advice of the former army chief.

"In a meeting with General Bajwa held in the presence of President Dr Arif Alvi, he [Gen Bajwa] said that if you want elections, dissolve your governments," the former prime minister said in an interview with a private news channel on Sunday.

Gen Bajwa had no ideology, Khan said, adding that the former chief of army staff (COAS) told him lies.

The deposed premier, who was voted out of office in April last year after a successful no-confidence motion, said the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief told him that Bajwa wanted to bring Shehbaz Sharif into power.

He also revealed that a leader from the Middle East had told him a year earlier that Bajwa was not with him any longer.

The PTI chief has previously claimed that Gen Bajwa's behaviour changed after he was granted an extension.

Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, while reacting to the PTI's tweet, asked the party on Monday to "not play with the public's minds and not tell lies".

Khan was the first leader whose own party was contradicting his statement, she said. "His party's official account is saying, 'Imran did not say what he said.'

"You [Khan] destroyed the society and the economy, poisoned minds and paralysed the country. Why did you dissolve assemblies on Bajwa's advice?" she asked.

Criticising the PTI chairman further, Aurangzeb said Khan "insulted" the people of Punjab and KP, ridiculed their representatives and dissolved the assemblies in an attempt to come to power.

"Neither will people forgive those who played with the Constitution nor will we let them go," she asserted. "Now, the elections will not be held on the advice of a mother-in-law or Bajwa but at a specified time."