Anyone from party may have approached establishment, says PM Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Saturday that he had not requested the establishment to intervene in the present crisis.

In an interview to a local news channel, he said he always thinks about winning. “You either think about losing and its fear or about winning and its strategy. I always make strategies to win and I have planned to win on Sunday,” he added. To a question, he said he would win but won’t reveal his strategy. “Even most of my colleagues are not aware of my plan,” he claimed.

When asked about the request he had made to the establishment for a way out of the present crisis, he categorically rejected it, but added that he was not sure whether anyone from my party had sought help. “However, I was not informed about it. People of my party told me about the three conditions. I would have requested for help if I had some fear. I have absolutely no fear to lose,” he claimed.

A day earlier, he said the establishment had made three offers to him including no-confidence, resignation or fresh elections, and to him elections was the best option. In an interview to a local channel, he had said he could not even think of resigning from his office; on no-trust motion, he said he wanted to be a competitor and he would fight till the last ball. He also said his life was in danger. “But I will not remain silent. From outside, the regime change plot is being executed and this is the issue of national security,” he added.

In response his claim that the military establishment had brought to him three options from the opposition, sources in the military establishment said that the military leadership did not bring the opposition’s options rather the civilian government had telephoned the top brass and asked for a meeting to discuss the ongoing political situation.

On the request of the government, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and the ISI DG met with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday evening, source said, adding that during the meeting, three options were mutually discussed between the civilian and military leadership. The three available options after the filing of no-confidence move in the National Assembly that were mutually discussed between the government and military side were ‘facing the no-confidence move’, ‘resignation’ or ‘dissolving the assembly’. However, the Prime Minister rejected the first two options and agreed to the third one which, according to him, was workable, military sources added.

Military sources said that after those mutual discussions with the prime minister, both COAS and DG ISI met with the opposition leadership on the same day and conveyed the three options discussed between the military establishment and the civilian leadership. But the opposition rejected the options including dissolution of the assembly. The military leadership conveyed to the opposition parties’ leaders that they were not meeting them to interfere in political matters but to convey the mutually discussed three options with the opposition parties, said military sources.

An informed source further told The News that the establishment would not take any side, stay neutral but encourage both Prime Minister Imran Khan and the opposition leaders to sit and talk about a better future, strong economy and the political stability of the country.