“I can take the nation out on the streets whenever I want, and people come to the streets on my two-hour call, the condition of the common man is bad. It is not a difficult task to evacuate the people, but I decided on peaceful protests because the country is facing a difficult time and we cannot bear more damage.”
By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan said the appointment of the army chief should be deferred until a new government is elected in a free and fair election, which should then choose the new military head.
Khan also suggested that the current army Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa should be given a brief extension while reiterating calls for early elections.
“Whichever party comes into power after free and fair general elections should appoint a new army chief,” Khan said in an interview with a private TV channel on Monday.
“I had said that the post of the COAS was extremely important and the appointment should be made on merit. I will repeat this again and again. But I will also mention that Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif are not qualified to make the appointment on merit…every decision these two take is to save their stolen wealth.”
“Lawyers have told me that a provision can be found that a new government can make the appointment after coming to power,” Khan said.
The deposed premier said his party PTI “is ready for negotiations with the government on any matter if they (government) are ready for (early) free and fair elections”.
General Bajwa is scheduled to retire in November. The country’s constitution allows the prime minister to pick the military head from a list of generals submitted by the outgoing chief. The army chief’s term is three years.
Bajwa was due to retire in 2019, but then premier Khan gave him an extension, which analysts say stemmed largely from close ties between the two.
Khan, who was ousted through a PML-N Nawaz Sharif-led parliamentary no-confidence vote in April, has been staging massive rallies of his party supporters nationwide to press for early general elections.
The upcoming appointment is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
When Khan was in power, the opposition accused him of trying to bring an army chief of his choice, who could support his alleged agenda of victimizing opposition leaders.
Since he lost power, the equation has changed and now Khan is saying that the coalition government wants to install an army head of its choice to protect looted wealth and steal general elections.
Whatever the political meaning of the rival rhetoric, the fact is that an army chief is seldom a silent spectator of the political games in the country.
Previously Khan accused the country’s coalition government of delaying fresh elections to appoint “a new army chief of their own choice” to protect their alleged corrupt practices and ill-gotten wealth.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief said conducting elections was the only way to ensure political stability in the country.
“I can take the nation out on the streets whenever I want, and people come to the streets on my two-hour call, the condition of the common man is bad. It is not a difficult task to evacuate the people, but I decided on peaceful protests because the country is facing a difficult time and we cannot bear more damage.”
Khan said a conspiracy was hatched to topple his government when the country was progressing.
“We said that no one would be able to manage the economy in case of instability at that time, adding that they had no plan to manage the economy, these people just wanted to get rid of their cases.”
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