'Anger in army' over Nawaz's tirades but Bajwa tolerating them for democracy: PM

KARACHI: While there is "a lot of anger" within the army over the verbal attacks of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his party against the top military leadership, COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is putting up with the tirades for the sake of democracy.

This was stated by Prime Minister Imran Khan in an interview to a private TV channel on Friday.

"I praise Gen Bajwa today. To attack an army chief in this manner; a reaction comes from the army.

"[But] Gen Bajwa is an uncomplicated man. There is composure in him, that is why he is tolerating this. There would be a big reaction if somebody else was leading the army," the premier said.

He said although there was "a lot of anger" within the army ranks, "I know he is tolerating this because he believes in democracy."

Prime Minister Imran said the opposition was today accusing him of being a "puppet", saying it wanted to talk to the establishment. "This means they're putting pressure on the army to remove a democratic government. This is [their] democratic movement," he added.

The premier said because the opposition realised he would not budge from his position, they were "appealing to the Pakistan Army, asking it to remove a democratic government. Article 6 applies on this; it is a case of treason."

"The opposition's second demand is that if the army and ISI chiefs do not remove me, then the army should remove them [the chiefs of army and ISI]," he added.

Answering a question, he emphasised that the Pakistan Army was a government department, saying: "The Pakistan Army is not sitting above me. It's below me."

The premier reiterated that the army and other institutions had stood by all of his government's decisions and policies and helped it tackle the Covid-19 crisis.

Speaking on the former government's troubled relationships with the establishment, Prime Minister Imran said Nawaz was "manufactured by the army against the PPP". He said he himself received a message from military ruler Gen Ziaul Haq in 1988 that he wanted to make him (Imran) the prime minister.

He said the establishment had helped the PML-N supremo in the 2013 elections but their ties became strained because the establishment did not support him in 2018.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020