Bilawal warned Bajwa of going public if pressed to revoke no-trust against Imran

ISLAMABAD: Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto had told former army chief Gen (R) Qamar Javed Bajwa on March 26, 2022 that he would go public if the military establishment pressed the opposition to withdraw no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government, an informed source claimed.

Many politicians attended the meeting, which recently became a point of controversy following Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s allegation that the then opposition had moved the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan at the behest of Gen Bajwa.

Some of the politicians, who attended the same meeting, have already denied what Maulana stated, but it is learnt that Bilawal Bhutto had a plain speaking with the then army chief on the question of the no-confidence motion. The army chief and DG ISI were sent by the then Prime Minister Imran Khan to meet the opposition leaders and persuade them to withdraw the no-confidence motion.

Bajwa along with the incumbent DG ISI had met the opposition leaders.

When Bajwa told the opposition leaders to withdraw the no-confidence motion in return for which Imran Khan would go for midterm elections, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Bilawal had strongly rejected the idea.

Bilawal Bhutto, according to a source, had told the army chief that moving a no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government was the democratic right of the opposition and a constitutional mean to remove the prime minister. The source said that Bilawal had then cautioned Bajwa that if the military establishment pressed pressed the opposition to withdraw the motion, he would go public about it.

The March 26, 2022 meeting was attended by Shehbaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Khalid Magsi, Shahzain Bugti, Akhtar Mengal, Khalid Maqbool, Faisal Sabzwari, Malik Ahmed Khan and others.