Army refutes Gen Bajwa's comments on Indian civil-military ties

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army on Sunday refuted comments attributed to Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa to have advised "senior Army officers to learn from Indian democracy and that the Army has no business trying to run the government"

"News/comments quoting COAS address to officers at Rawalpindi regarding book 'Amy and Nation' is a disinformation," said Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor, director general Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) in a tweet on Sunday.

A section of media had earlier quoted the Army Chief from his December last year address to senior army officers in General Headquarters, (GHQ), Rawalpindi, to have reportedly advised them to study a book titled 'Army and Nation' written by Steven I Wilkinson, a professor of Political Science and International Relations at Yale University, about Indian army's relationship with the civilian government after independence.

General Bajwa was further quoted to have reportedly told the senior army officers that the army had "no business" in running the government.

"The army has no business trying to run the government. The army must remain within its constitutionally defined role," a local English-language newspaper quoted Bajwa as saying which was largely covered by Indian media, describing it a "shift" in Pakistan Army's policy after the retirement of Gen Raheel Sharif last year.