Imran Khan says extending ex-COAS Bajwa’s tenure was a ‘blunder’

LAHORE: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has asserted that his decision to extend former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s tenure in 2019 was a ‘blunder’, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

Speaking to international media, the former premier continued his criticism of Gen (retd) Qamar Javad Bajwa, saying that terming the extension of former army chief’s tenure a ‘blunder’

Imran Khan claimed that ex-COAS Bajwa acquired the services of former Pakistani ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani to lobby against him in United States. “For the first time in Pakistan’s history, the people did not accept the regime change,” he said.

In response to a question, the PTI chairman lambasted the postings and transfers in Punjab following the dissolution of provincial assembly, saying that such people were being appointed who were involved in ‘violence’ during party’s May 25 long march.

Imran Khan said he feared the upcoming by-elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) will be rigged. He added that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif wants his disqualification.

Speaking of the terror wave, the former premier said that the country cannot afford terrorism. However, he said, the incumbent government in Afghanistan was not anti-Pakistan.

Earlier in February, Imran Khan said that he was on same page with former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, till the later demanded an NRO for the ‘political opponents’.

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The then-government and Establishment were on the same page during the coronavirus pandemic and the “world lauded our policies’.

Imran Khan said that the ties with Gen Bajwa strained when the latter demanded an NRO for the ‘political opponents’. “The former army chief was against the accountability drive as he demanded an NRO and changes in National Accountability Bureau (NAB),” he alleged.

The former prime minister noted that his whole struggle was for the supremacy of law and justice. He claimed that his relations with Gen Bajwa were further strained over the removal of retd Lt Gen Faiz Hameed as Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).