Army had termed Abbottabad operation intel failure: Dar

KARACHI: Former finance minister Ishaq Dar has said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement, given in Washington about the arrest of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, is of very serious nature.

Talking to Voice of America (VOA), he said that the then army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI chief General Shuja Pasha, while briefing the parliament at that time, had termed the incident an intelligence failure. Even the ISI chief had tendered his resignation on the issue, which was not accepted, he disclosed.

Dar said Prime Minister Imran Khan was in habit of giving statement without thinking of their consequences. It seems he gave this statement also only to get credit for the arrest of Osama in Pakistan, he said adding “if somebody gave him briefing on the issue, then the parliament should take up it as it is a serious issue.” The PML-N leader, currently living in London, said it could have serious implications for the country and a detailed discussion should be held on it in the parliament.

Ishaq Dar said Imran Khan also talked of presence of 35,000-40,000 extremists in the country, who got training in Afghanistan and Kashmir. He suspected the figure, saying according to the documents Pakistan shared under the National Action Plan (NAP), there were about 8,000 extremists who had got training in camps.

Ishaq Dar said Imran Khan’s politics revolved around four constituencies and 35 punctures. When the court formed a commission and declared the polls transparent, Imran Khan declared it political narrative. His new narrative is loans and corruption. Questioning the hike in inflation and rupee and dollar parity, he said: “We are not Federal Reserve, Bank of England or European Union which allow dollar rates.” He said devaluation is the cause for any society’s destruction. “We left interest rate at 6.25 that is now 13.5pc. On the question to return home and face cases in courts, he said the cases against them were baseless. He said two brigadiers who were in the JIT of Panama Leaks and Dawn Leaks accused him of not filing tax returns for 20 years. He said he should be shot at D-Chowk. “And if I have filed the tax returns, the JIT should be reviewed.”

He said there is no justice in Pakistan. When the situation turns different, he will return home after completing his medical checkup.