Imran Khan : Gen Bajwa sent me a message for his extension as army chief
LAHORE – PTI Chairman Imran claimed on Monday that former chief of army staff (COAS) Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa had sent him a message for extension in his tenure.
The former prime minister targeted the ex-army chief in an interview with local news channel, stating: “When I came to know about conspiracy against us I told Gen Bajwa that if getting extension is the purpose, we will give it”.
Khan said he also sent then finance minister Shaukat Tarin with a message that country’s economy would not be handled if political instability was created at that time. “But he [Gen Bajwa] was considering Shehbaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar as genius person,” he take a dig at former army chief.
The PTI chief said Gen Bajwa joined hands with the opposition after getting extension as he did not consider corruption as an evil. “We develop differences with him [Bajwa] over corruption,” he said, adding that impediments were created in the way of accountability.
He also accused the former top commander of meting out inhumane treatment to the PTI leaders, including Azam Swati and Shahbaz Gill. “They [PTI leaders] were treated as traitors,” he lamented.
Khan also recalled his last meeting with Gen Bajwa, stating the then army chief told him that he had videos of files of the PTI leaders. He said the former COAS also called him playboy in the meeting, adding: “I told him that I never claimed to be an angel”.
He said looters had been imposed on Pakistan by giving them “NRO-2”, adding that only transparent elections could bring economic stability in the country. He said the technocrat setup would fail in the prevailing circumstance, adding that IMF had asked for imposing more taxes of Rs700 billion to revive the loan programme.