The military does what the government wants it to do, claims Fawad Chaudhry
- PTI’s government operates independence of any pressure, including the military.
- CPEC has not slowed down. It has moved to another level.
- Chinese rely very heavily on the Pakistani army when it comes to the construction of the CPEC corridor.
Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhry, has said that Pakistan Army does exactly what the government wants it to do.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, the minister said that Pakistan Army is an integral part of Pakistan's government. "They have their own duties and Pakistan's PM and cabinet decides which institution has to sow what way and the Pakistan Army does exactly what the government wants it to do and that is it," Chaudhry said.
When asked about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority (CPEC) being headed by an ex-military man, Chaudhry said that “When the Chinese authorities initiated talks on CPEC, the first thing was that army must be involved. Now, look at the role India is playing in Pakistan. They attack the CPEC project every day, they attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi, they do abductions of Chinese every year. BLA is a proxy of India. So in Pakistan, our economy has a security angle and we have to cater to that angle.”
While referring to the military running the foreign policy, Chaudhry said that many generals in the US have served as foreign ministers and does that mean that the US foreign policy is run by the military?
The minister further contended that once a general has retired, he is very much a civilian and eligible to hold the civilian posts. He said the military is a very organized body and we 'get very well trained human resources'. He was of the view that if his ministry gets a retired military officer as the head, it would be far more convenient as their training standards are better.
"Yes we would like to take help from the army in many aspects of administration and there is no harm in it," Chaudhry said.
Speaking about the military's hand in PM Imran Khan coming into governance, the minister said that the people of Pakistan have helped him to become PM. PM is the most popular leader of Pakistan and no opposition leader cannot claim to be even half of Imran Khan as far as popularity is concerned.
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