I never wanted to bring my own army chief: Imran Khan

The ousted primer minister pours his heart out to podcaster

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief and former prime minister Imran Khan has refuted that he had ever wanted to bring his own army chief.

Khan, while speaking in a podcast on Thursday night with Centrum Media said he had never meddled with the military’s affairs.

On a disagreement between him and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on the posting of the former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, Lt General Faiz Hameed, Khan said, “it is said that there was some unpleasantness over General Faiz’s appointment and [they said] he wants to make General Faiz the army chief. This is where it started.”

Khan further opined that when in office, the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had been controlling all institutions of the country and wanted to control the army as well by appointing his own army chief.

“I have never had an issue with army because I have never interfered [in their matters]. I never wanted to bring my own army chief. I always wanted to make the institutions of army, police and judiciary strong.”

Elaborating on what might have gone wrong he said, “I had only one problem. I got to know [last summer] that there was a possibility of a civil war in Afghanistan and I was afraid that if the US left Afghanistan, it would have repercussions for Pakistan,” while revealing that he wanted General Faiz to stay during the “vulnerable winters” that followed.

The PTI chief further shared that he wanted the intelligence chief to continue as by July last year he received news of PML-N’s campaign against him, saying an intelligence chief is the “eyes and ears” of the government in difficult times.

“To date, I have never done anything against merit,” he said. “…so I can’t even think of going against merit for the [appointment of] the army chief.”

Khan said his ouster was a direct reaction to his independent foreign policy. “Independent foreign policy doesn’t mean I’m anti-America. As a matter of fact, I would say I am not even anti-Indian.”
He further said he was against the racist policies and Kashmir policies of BJP and RSS.

Coming back to the US, Khan mentioned that he even had good relations with the Trump administration. “The reason US turned “against me”, Imran said, was that he was unwilling to compromise on the policies that benefitted the 220 million people of Pakistan. “They [the US] wanted us to cancel the Russia trip, stop trade with them, and limit [our] relationship with China. They are asking for bases here to stop international terrorism in Afghanistan,” he continued, asserting that he would never let Pakistan sabotage itself in someone else’s war.

“They thought they could use Pakistan like a tissue paper, like they did during the war on terror,” the former PM said. “This is the number one reason why they conspired [against me] and then they found receptive people.”

Responding to another question he said that he believed Pakistan should never become a part of any bloc. Recalling the war on terror he viewed that Pakistan was not valued enough, earned disrespect despite sacrifice of more than 80,000 people. “I want us to have an independent foreign policy like India. It is a strategic ally of the US but at the same time maintains good relations with Russia,” the PTI chief said.

“Why can’t Pakistan do the same?” he questioned. “America was never used to Pakistan standing up for itself so when we did, they hatched this conspiracy. And these stooges are now helping them in this.”
Rejecting the commission formed by the Shehbaz Sharif government to probe the foreign conspiracy against the PTI government, he said “the only commission we will accept is that of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan”, adding that “the condition is that an open hearing is held on what happened from the start to the end.”

Khan also talked in detail about fallout with Jahangir Khan Tareen and Aleem Khan, two of his closest allies of 11 years. He said, “they did not join politics for the same ideals as mine,” adding, “I came to politics for idealism, for change and to work for a new Pakistan, a welfare state. Unfortunately, they [Tareen and Aleem] came to power not for the ideals I had. And it is clear now because they are standing with those I have been calling out from day one.”

The differences with Tareen, he said, arose when the government started inquiring the sugar scandal. “Whereas Aleem Khan wanted to legalise 300-acre illegal land he had bought along the bed of the river Ravi.” That’s where parting of ways begun he said, “… differences started then. And now, the side they have taken clearly shows that corruption doesn’t mean anything to them.”

He claimed that the “conspirers” were not expecting the public to react in such a way. “They weren’t expecting that the public would stand up and come out. They are in shock. They weren’t even expecting
that people in the institutions will stand up like this.”

Khan thinks that the people are angry on a foreign conspiracy to topple a democratically elected government and the same thieves being imposed on them. “… I think when I will give the date of the Islamabad freedom march, this is my contention that record-breaking people, in the history of Pakistan, will take to the streets,” Khan professed.