COAS’ appointment: Consulting Nawaz breach of Official Secrets Act: IK

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that a convict (referring to former prime minister and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif) taking decisions on a sensitive matter of army chief appointment in London is a breach of the Official Secrets Act; “hence, we have decided to take an action and our lawyers are looking into it”.

He expressed these views while addressing the participants of PTI’s “Haqeeqi Azadi” march in Mandi Bahauddin, Jaranwala and Charsada through a video link from the provincial capital on Monday.

The former prime minister castigated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for consulting his “convicted brother” on the country’s sensitive matters in London. “How can Shehbaz consult a convict on the appointment of a new army chief?” he questioned. He pointed out that one could not even think that this could happen in a civilised country. He was also critical of involving Nawaz Sharif in finalising a date for the general elections.

“A convict will now decide when to hold the next general elections,” he added.

“The people should not allow Nawaz Sharif to take decisions on the country’s future; he does he have any stake in Pakistan and his children are sitting abroad. Thus, he would never take decisions in Pakistan’s interests and would just think about protecting his own,” he said.

Reiterating his position on diplomatic relations with the United States, he maintained that he wants friendly relations with all the countries based on mutual respect and slavery will not be accepted at any cost.

“I am all willing to have friendly relations with India, but only after resolution of the Kashmir issue,” he added.

The PTI chairman revealed that he always wanted an independent foreign policy for Pakistan, but unfortunately, the current foreign policy does not protect the people of Pakistan. He repeated that he does not want enmity with anyone, which is in the economic interests of the country; “we want good relations with everyone, but not slavery”.

He also condemned certain journalists for deliberately misinterpreting his interviews on foreign media; “a propaganda cell in Pakistan was feeding journalists against me”.

He claimed that certain journalists were asked to pick and choose things from his interview and highlight them with a negative twist.

“The propaganda cell was trying to misconstrue his words. Two foreign journalists who had interviewed me had to clarify that their writings were being misinterpreted,” he added.

Khan again appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Atta Bandial to investigate the killing of Arshad Sharif, alleged torture on PTI Senator Azam Swati and the Wazirabad FIR relating to the assassination attempt on him.

“In this connection, they have filed separate petitions in the Supreme Court and its Registry Office in all the provinces,” he added.

He reiterated that he could not get the first information report registered as per his demand, which was his lawful right.

“Certain powerful people resisted it and the Punjab Police only listened to them. If this was happening to me, what would be the fate of ordinary people,” he claimed.

The former premier believed that ensuring rule of law will bring prosperity and freedom to the country.

“The European countries with strict observance of the rule of law and strong justice system were the most prosperous countries in the world,” he added.

“On the rule of law index, Pakistan stands at 129, so how can we prosper? Hence, to bring prosperity in Pakistan we have to strengthen our justice system and ensure rule of law,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022