Asad Umar, a PTI leader, stated on Thursday that his party chief never made any unconstitutional demands in “back door talks” in response to a press conference by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) DG Lt Gen Babar Iftikhar regarding former prime minister Imran Khan’s confrontational narrative against the military.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, Shireen Mazari, and Hammad Azhar, other party leaders, joined Umar as he spoke with the media, claiming that the topics discussed behind closed doors were not “secret.”
These remarks were apparently made in response to Lt. Gen. Anjum by Umar. While civilians have the freedom to express their opinions in the press conference earlier today, the DG ISI appeared to be referring to Imran when he asked: “Why did you praise him [the army leader] so much in the past if he was a traitor?”
Why do you meet him through the back door if you consider him to be a traitor? Avoid holding secret meetings through the back door where you can voice your unconstitutional wishes while denouncing [the army chief] as a traitor in the open. Your words and your actions are in stark contrast, he had said.
Lt Gen Anjum also disclosed that General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Chief of Army Staff, received a “lucrative offer” for a contract renewal in March. It was created in my presence. Because he wanted the institution to go from a contentious role to a constitutional role, he rejected it.
Later on in the day, Umar claimed that Imran was the owner of both the army and the nation during a media discussion in Lahore. “But will Imran Khan concur with every military decision? Does he criticise any decisions or actions? Absolutely. He has a constitutional right to this.
You may not agree with the criticism, but from Imran Khan’s perspective, all of these recommendations would improve the army and the nation if they were implemented.
