Never called Bajwa ‘boss’, says Imran Khan

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Thursday said the new army chief, General Asim Munir, should not carry forward his predecessor General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s policies.

Talking to Youtubers at his Zaman Park residence here, he said: “I never called General Qamar Javed Bajwa ‘boss’ as I was the prime minister at that time.” He claimed that he never wanted to appoint Lt-General Faiz Hameed as the chief of the army staff. “Propaganda was launched against him,” he regretted.

The PTI chairman claimed the homecoming of Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, was part of the “National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) II”. Suleman is set to return to Pakistan after ending his exile of over four years in London. Imran Khan said a society could not prosper until it was run under the principle of justice.

The former premier said the best way to stop incidents of religious extremism was provision of true information about religion to people.

He said he had complete trust in Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi and added that “he would do as I say”. He admitted that he was unable to take action against mafias despite being in power.

About the audio leaks, Khan said those clips were leaked as part of a plan. “National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been a subordinate to the establishment before and has been laying hands only on the weak,” Khan said replying to a question.

He said when his party came to power, the country was in the grips of many mafias, but the PTI government could not crack down on them, adding two families subverted the state institutions. “Institutions became habitual of martial laws,” Khan said.

Separately, addressing a meeting of PTI MNA, MPA ticket-holders from Potohar region (Pindi Division) and Sialkot, Imran Khan urged his stalwarts to get ready for fresh polls, and alleged that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was conspiring to get him disqualified. He directed the PTI activists to expose the failures of Shehbaz Sharif government before the nation. He said fresh polls were the only solution to save Pakistan and added that the assemblies of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab would be dissolved soon. He said the PMLQ leadership had assured him of dissolving the Punjab Assembly soon and asserted that he was committed to moving ahead, whether anybody sided by him or not.

Sources said the meeting also discussed various legal and political aspects related to dissolution of the Punjab Assembly.