KARAK (KP): PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday said he did not want an army chief of his choice but only concerned with merit-based appointment of the COAS.
Addressing a public gathering at Karak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the former premier responded to Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s comment that Khan wanted to “appoint an army chief of his choice.” “Imran Khan has proved time and again to be an unguided missile for the country, its economy, politics and social cohesion,” Bilawal said, urging the PTI chairman to desist from questioning the patriotism of the defence institution and its commanders.
Replying to Bilawal, Khan said: “They say Imran Khan wanted to appoint the army chief of his choice, but let me make it clear that I do not want an army chief [of my choice]. All I care about is merit-based appointment.”
Criticising the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership, Khan said that PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz was “incapable of telling the truth” as he once again accused her of keeping nepotism above national interests.
“Maryam wants to import power plant ma chinery from India for her son-in-law,” he said while referring to a controversy which arose a day earlier about leaked audio that has gone viral on social media.
The audio allegedly featured Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif holding a discussion with an unidentified person and asking them about a power plant from India to be imported for Maryam’s son-in-law.
“Our government had stopped trade with India because it broke international law and ended the special status of Kashmir,” Khan said, adding that PDM leaders came to power to enjoy “personal benefits.”
“But, this government is trying to restore ties with India, they are ready to neglect struggle of Kashmiri people for their gains,” he added.
Imran said that Maryam Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif’s audio leak proved that they could ignore Kashmiri’s struggle and illegally import machinery from India for their gains.
Addresses GCU, Lahore
PTI chief Imran Khan said on Monday that after the surfacing of audio leaks allegedly featuring conversations between key figures in the coalition government, Chief election commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja should resign from his post.
Addressing a gathering at Government College University (GCU) in Lahore, Imran said the audio leaks had made it apparent that CEC Raja was a “servant of the Sharif household”.
In the audio leaks, “Nawaz is telling him [CEC] who should be disqualified and when to hold elections,” the former premier said.
After the audio leaks, the CEC should resign if he has even an ounce of shame, he said. “But he doesn’t [have any shame], so we will have to make him resign.”
Audio recordings of purported conversations between key government figures — including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and some members of the federal cabinet — discussing governance matters privately surfaced over the weekend, prompting concerns over the security of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
PML-N leader Talal Chaudhry on Sunday had said the government was taking the leaks “very seriously”, however, he stopped short of denying the veracity of the audios.
The content of the recordings, which appear to be informal conversations in the PM Office — as opposed to recorded phone conversations — has not been denied or disputed by Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, who instead insisted that these only showed that “nothing illegal had happened”.
In his speech, Imran also alleged that the CEC had blocked the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) on the instructions of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari. “I kept on trying to introduce EVMs for three years […] But this man, on the instructions of Nawaz and Zardari, who rely on false votes, did not allow EVMs,” he claimed.
Turning his guns on Maryam, the PTI chief referred to one of the audio recordings purportedly featuring a conversation between PM Shehbaz and an unidentified official about the possibility of facilitating the import of Indian machinery for a power project that was linked to the PML-N vice president’s son-in-law.
Lambasting the PML-N, particularly PM Shehbaz, Imran said that his government had ended trade ties with India after New Delhi had revoked occupied Kashmir’s special autonomy in August 2019.
“There are still no ties, but Maryam’s son-in-law [intends] to procure machinery from India,” Imran continued, adding: “And what is prime minister cherry blossom’s response? He suggests that they bring the machinery via another country instead of telling them not to import it at all.”