After Imran, more politicians may seek meeting with army chief

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is the first top politician, who has held a meeting with Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, while the recurrent sessions of his archrival Nawaz Sharif with the senior most commander relate to his official position as the prime minister of Pakistan.

Such marathon discussions obviously concentrate on paramount issues of national security and strategic matters, internal and external. Not only now but even previously the premier had been holding detailed deliberations with the successive army chiefs so that the critical policies of national import are formulated with complete consensus.

Imran Khan’s meeting with Gen Bajwa was held over four months after the latter assumed office of the army chief on November 29 last year replacing Raheel Sharif on the expiry of his three-year tenure. The PTI chairman is the only key political figure, who has got an opportunity to hold one-on-one session with the army chief. This may encourage some other important politicians particularly former President Asif Ali Zardari to seek a similar appointment.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor announced Friday night’s session in a tweet in which he stated that Imran Khan “called on” the army chief and “felicitated” him on his promotion and appointment. “Various issues came under discussion”, he said without elaborating.

However, while the ISPR observed brevity, the PTI’s media cell was a bit elaborate. It said the meeting lasted one hour, focusing on national integrity and security. Discussions were also held on conditions prevailing in the region, repatriation of Afghan refugees and the recent wave of terror attacks, it added.

Imran Khan himself was careful and cautious when he said with a smile on Saturday about his session with Gen Bajwa that the army chief “stands by democracy”. “The only thing I would like to say about the meeting is that the good news is that the army chief stands by democracy. If I respond to this in detail, the headlines will be dominated by this and no one will talk about climate change. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has a hands-on approach against climate change.”

As usual, he exuded poise. He had also displayed remarkable confidence after meeting the then army chief, Raheel Sharif, back in 2014 at the height of the crisis triggered by his sit-in at the D-Chowk of Islamabad.

Almost all senior politicians, who enjoy people’s support of varying degrees, had phoned Gen Bajwa immediately after he had been elevated as the army chief. Imran Khan was one of them.

The social media, which is always in desperate search of issues to comment, echoed with several posts, translating the meeting in its own way. Besides, every discerning political mind will interpret the development from its own peculiar angle and approach.

Imran Khan’s only comment - Gen Bajwa ‘stands by democracy’ – on his discussions with the army chief testifies to the commander’s proven credentials.

It was widely stated at the time of his selection as the army chief by the prime minister in November that one of the main preferences before Nawaz Sharif to choose him was that the general had stood with continuation of democratic system in the devastating 2014 sit-ins of the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT). At the time these two parties were out to get the system packed up. Bajwa was then the corps commander of Rawalpindi. Some key elements were also in collaboration with the protesters.

The rare meeting between Imran Khan and Gen Bajwa has been held when there is marked complete political calm and stability; the PTI stands exhausted due to its consistent failures to send the Nawaz Sharif government packing through different machinations; its political activities are on the backburner as it is no more in a position to sponsor calls of sit-ins, protest processions, rally and lockdowns at the drop of a hat; only the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is making a lot of hue and cry with the vows to snatch Punjab from the Sharif brothers in the 2018 general elections but has not created any instability; the newly launched military operation Ruddul Fasaad, devised with complete consensus, is going at a fast pace all over Pakistan; mega development projects, involving billions of dollars, undertaken by the government are fast nearing completion; everyone specifically the two adversaries -- the prime minister and Imran Khan -- are waiting with bated breath for the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Panama case; every political force worth the name has started bracing up for the forthcoming parliamentary polls; and there has been a remarkable civ-mil harmony and coordination.

When the two chief protesters -- Imran Khan and PAT supremo Allama Tahirul Qadri -- had met Raheel Sharif in 2014, immense political destabilization and confrontation was reigning the political horizon, which had basically been triggered by their seizure of the strategic location of the federal capital whereas now when the PTI chairman has held a session with Gen Bajwa, there is nothing unusual in any sphere.