ISPR chief terms allegation against Peshawar individual speculation

ISLAMABAD: The spokesperson for Pakistan Army and ISPR DG, Major General Babar Iftikhar, has said that all talk about an individual, recently posted in Peshawar, contacting opposition members to foil the proposed no-trust move against Prime Minister Imran Khan is mere speculation.

When approached by this correspondent on Thursday, the spokesman said that neither is the institution involved in any politics nor can any individual belonging to the defence forces do what is being speculated about him.

The ISPR DG referred to his last press conference regarding such speculation and said that it should be avoided. The institution has nothing to do with politics, he said, adding that no individual in the institution could do what was being speculated.

Recently, the PMLN in a press release issued to the media alleged that on the direction of the prime minister, a person recently posted to Peshawar was contacting opposition members from the national assembly to foil the no-trust move. The PMLN warned that if this continued, the party would have no option but to name the person.

On Wednesday, the JUI(F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman was quoted as having told a group of media persons that ‘the institution’ has become neutral. Maulana added that the institution has taken notice of the individual act mentioned in the PMLN press release.

The ISPR DG was contacted by The News on Thursday to get his response to what the PML-N and Maulana Fazlur Rehman had stated. In his last press conference, the ISPR chief when asked about a deal being offered to Nawaz Sharif, told the questioner to ask the speculators what the specific details of the deal were and on what evidence or basis were they talking about such a deal.

"If someone speaks about such a matter, I would request you to ask them who is striking a deal. What are the specifics? What is the evidence that someone is out to make a deal?" Maj Gen Iftikhar had asked.

He said there was no such thing going on and reiterated that if someone does talk about it, they must be asked for the details. "In my understanding, I am very clear on that, this is all absolutely baseless speculation and the less we discuss it, the better for the country," he was quoted by the media as saying.

The ISPR DG, in the same press conference, had also maintained that there is no trouble afoot on the civil-military front. "I say this time and again that the armed forces are a subservient institution to the government of Pakistan and work in accordance with their directives," he said.

The DG had also made a request to media persons to, "keep the establishment out of it (such debates) and don't argue about this." He added that there are other more important issues that need to be talked about, such as education, health, infrastructure development, population growth and agriculture.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, meanwhile, said that intercepting the Indian submarine by the Pakistan Navy was a last warning for India. “As Pakistan is a peace loving country, we did not hit but warned (the submarine) to return,” Sheikh Rashid said in a statement.

He said it was the fourth time that India had tried to enter Pakistan’s deep sea waters. The Pakistan Navy had intercepted an Indian submarine a year back. The minister emphatically stated that with Pakistan having strong and brave armed forces, including army, navy and air force, no one could cast an evil eye on the great country and the nation. Sheikh Rashid appreciated the Pakistan Navy’s competence and resolve in defending the country’s maritime frontiers.