Home Latest News P.M. Sharif Slams ‘Campaign’ against Army Chief

P.M. Sharif Slams ‘Campaign’ against Army Chief

After premier accuses PTI of seeking to undermine armed forces, party claims it has only ‘good wishes’ for Gen. Asim Munir

by Staff Report

P.M. Shehbaz Sharif. Photo courtesy PID

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday slammed a “disgusting smear campaign” against Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen. Asim Munir, accusing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of seeking to undermine the armed forces through it.

“PTI’s disgusting smear campaign against Chief of the Army Staff General Asim Munir at the behest of Imran Niazi is deserving of the strongest condemnation,” he wrote in a post on Twitter. “This man Niazi is stooping to unprecedented lows in his desperation for power and going to the extent of damaging the country and undermining our armed forces and their leadership,” he added.

In an accompanying statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, the premier urged overseas Pakistanis to raise their voice against the “foreign-funded” campaign, stressing that they should not become part of a conspiracy utilizing expatriates to achieve its goals. Accusing the PTI chief of “violating the Constitution” by dragging institutions and their leadership into his “dirty” politics, he instructed Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah to “strictly” deal with all those running smear campaigns against institutions.

Warning of legal action against anyone involved in fomenting chaos or subverting the state’s writ, he said that any campaign against an Army chief appointed purely on merit could only be an agenda of anti-Pakistan elements. “The whole nation stands by its institutions and is united against miscreants,” he added.

The prime minister’s comments came a day after hundreds of Pakistani-Americans protested outside the White House against efforts to arrest Imran Khan, with several demonstrators carrying posters featuring former generals. Earlier, overseas Pakistanis in London had likewise protested against the police action, slamming shoes on pictures of generals in a bid to protest alleged political meddling by the armed forces.

Reacting to Sharif’s statement, PTI leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain alleged it would further alienate the public from the Army. “The PTI has only good wishes for the current Army chief. We want the chief to help the election commission in holding polls that the country’s environment improves,” he wrote on Twitter. In a subsequent media interaction, he reiterated that any weakening of the Army chief was also a weakening of the Army and the country as a whole. “The PTI has never carried out a campaign against the Army chief and does not have the intention of doing so. We respect him,” he claimed.

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