File photo of PTI Chairman Imran Khan
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday denied reports he had suggested extending the tenure of incumbent Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa till after general elections, claiming he was merely seeking the deferment of appointing a new Army chief.
A day earlier, Khan had told Dunya TV’s Kamran Khan that he did not support the incumbent government appointing the next Army chief after Gen. Bajwa retires at the end of November. Claiming “lawyers and constitutional experts” could find a way forward, he refused to say he was seeking another extension but maintained that no new appointment should be done until after fresh elections.
It is unclear how “deferment” would differ from “extension,” as the ousted prime minister did not further clarify his remarks. According to legal experts, the Army chief’s tenure can only be extended, as a deferment could mean leaving the military without any leadership, provoking a national security crisis.
Meeting a group of sympathetic journalists at his resident on Tuesday, the PTI chief said he had “never” talked about an extension to the Army chief’s tenure. “I just proposed to defer the appointment of the Army chief till the new elections,” he said, adding that he had never said who should be the next chief, merely that a new government should decide the selection on merit.
“I did not say anything to elicit a statement from Inter-Services Public Relations,” he said, referring to an earlier statement in which he had said the ruling coalition wished to appoint a “favorite” Army chief to protect its corruption. The statement, in which he had further alleged that a “strong and patriotic” Army chief would ensure the incumbent government could not indulge in any corruption, had provoked a rejoinder from the ISPR. Describing the military leadership as being “aghast” over Khan’s statement, the ISPR had urged political leaders from politicizing the Army chief appointment process.
In his interaction with journalists, the ousted prime minister reiterated that he would call on his supporters to take to the streets against the incumbent government within this month.
Later, in an interview on ARY News, PTI leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain appeared to admit Khan’s remarks called for an extension to the tenure of Gen. Bajwa, saying any deferment of the appointment of the next Army chief would be legally equivalent to an extension.
Another U-turn?
Members of the ruling coalition have reacted to Khan’s latest remarks about the Army chief’s appointment with scorn, describing it as yet another ‘U-turn’ from the ousted prime minister. In a posting on Twitter, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said Khan was so “desperate” to return to power that he was linking the appointment of the new Army chief with fresh elections. He stressed that the incumbent government would take a decision on the appointment of the next Army chief in line with the Constitution.
PPP leader Farhatullah Babar, similarly, said Khan’s latest remarks had proven false his attempts to paint himself as “anti-establishment” following his ouster. He was referring to multiple statements from Khan over the past six months in which the PTI chief has described the extension of the Army chief as among his biggest mistakes, and repeatedly accused Gen. Bajwa of working against his government.