Imran politicizing appointment of Army chief, wants rifts in army: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s planning minister, Ahsan Iqbal, on Thursday said the appointment of a new chief of army staff (COAS) would be made when the time came, describing former prime minister Imran Khan’s alleged attempts to politicize it and create rifts within the army as “unpatriotic” and “shameful.” 

Pakistan’s current army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, will complete his extended tenure on November 28. Bajwa became the army chief in November 2016 and was given a three-year extension in 2019, when Imran Khan was the prime minister. 

Imran Khan, who was ousted from power in a no-trust vote in April, recently said the government of PM Shehbaz Sharif was delaying fresh polls in the country as it was hoping to appoint an army chief of its own choice to save its leaders from graft cases. 

Later in an interview, Imran Khan, whose statement wasn’t well-received by the country’s military, demanded continuity of status quo within the army’s command till the new government takes over the country after the general elections. 

“[For army chief appointment, there is a mechanism in the Constitution. When the time will come, it will be made in routine, according to the law and on merit,” Ahsan Iqbal told Saima Shabbir for Arab News in an exclusive interview on Thursday. 

“Everyone should talk about the mechanism, instead of trying to create division in the army that there are patriotic generals and there are unpatriotic generals, I think that’s a shame.” 

The minister said Pakistan’s military was a very important institution for the country’s security and it must remain above politics. 

“Unfortunately, Imran Khan has tried to politicize even the army and now politicizing the appointment of the army chief. This is very sad and very unpatriotic,” he said. 

In this [flood] crisis, Iqbal said, Khan was still polarizing and dividing the nation, which was very unfortunate. 

“If one man thinks that he has the sole propriety or he has all the exclusive rights on patriotism, integrity, service to the nation and rest are all rogues, unpatriotic and their faith is in doubt then there is a serious problem with that one person,” he said. 

Speaking about damages caused by the floods, Iqbal, who also heads the National Flood Response Coordination Center (NFRCC), said initial estimates put losses from deluges at more than $30 billion, but a final figure would be clear after the completion of a damage assessment, which was being carried out in collaboration with the United Nations (UN), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). 

“Two to three years of effort would be required to rebuild infrastructure and rebuild people’s livelihoods,” the minister said, adding the UN would support a donor conference to help Pakistan mobilize international funding to carry out rehabilitation of people and rebuilding of resilient infrastructure. 

Asked about the cautious world response to the UN flash appeal for $160 million issued last month, he said the appeal had been subscribed to by the international community and there was assistance coming from friendly countries for rescue and relief operations. 

However, in a veiled reference to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, he said it was unfortunate that a political party was carrying out a “sinister campaign” to malign Pakistan. 

“The funds are used very transparently through NDMA and we have created a dashboard on which we are posting on daily basis how much relief is being collected and where it is being distributed,” Iqbal said. 

He said the prime minister also directed that a leading international firm should carry out an audit of all the funds that would come into the system through either the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund or otherwise: 

“The ministry of finance is carrying out the necessary processes because when you have to engage a firm you have to fulfill the coded formalities, but it will be one of the big four who are internationally acclaimed and recognized and respected for their authenticity.” 

Asked whether Pakistan would request the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reconsider its conditions after the devastating floods, the minister said the government was not considering it. “We do not right now intend to really give any message to the international community that Pakistan is facing a serious financial viability crisis,” he said. 

Unprecedented floods have killed more than 1,500 people and submerged a third of Pakistan since mid-June, affecting 35 million people across the South Asian country. 

Iqbal said Pakistan had suffered a setback but it would emerge out of it with the help of friendly countries, multilateral institutions and by diverting internal resources. 

About the reasons behind disbanding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, Iqbal said the authority, formed by the Khan administration in 2019, was a “redundant body” that created duplication and conflict within the government departments and ministries. 

“So, by reversing CPEC Authority, we are streamlining the implementation and execution of projects and we are going back to the old model of CPEC that was Ministry of Planning and Development leading the program through a very efficient, small CPEC secretariat and empowering the line ministries to do their job,” he said. 

As CPEC had transformed Pakistan’s relations with China from being political to more of economic, the minister said, Islamabad would like to start a similar initiative with Riyadh that would transform Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s relationship into a strong partnership as both countries have a great potential to contribute toward each other’s economic development. 

“We had very good talks with the Crown Prince when he visited Pakistan during our government and there was a serious indication by Saudi Arabia that they also want to work with Pakistan in extending CPEC to beyond Gwadar port into Africa,” he said. “We could have trade corridors and we are still open to it.” 

Iqbal hoped the Crown Prince would visit Pakistan soon: “On his visit, we should have a new impetus to economic cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.”