ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secretary general Asad Umar on Tuesday urged Chief of the Army Staff Asim Munir to restore broken trust between people and the military which reached its lowest ebb due to the flawed decisions taken by his predecessor during the last eight months.
As Qamar Javed Bajwa handed over the command of the military to his successor Gen Asim Munir, Umar took to Twitter and said: “General Bajwa left behind a legacy of political turmoil, a shattered economy and worst of all a fracturing of the relationship of trust between the army and citizens, with his decisions”.
He said Gen Munir’s first priority should be to restore the relationship of respect and love between the nation and the military leadership.
He stated that neither this relationship could be one-sided nor could it be obtained through the use of force and coercion, adding the relations between the nation and the army were badly hurt by the decisions taken during the past eight months.
However, he did say that the nation is still proud of its soldiers who defended the country.
Another senior PTI leader Dr Shireen Mazari said the state cannot continue with business as usual and civil-military relations need a total reset in sync with our Constitution.
She said there is a massive damage control which the new GHQ setup will have to undertake post departure of Gen Bajwa.
“This does not begin by abductions, assassination plots and protection of suspects by preventing FIRs, custodial torture, blackmailing videos and seeing every critical tweet by an individual as an instigation to mutiny,” she added.
She called for an immediate end to enforced disappearances, adding “how many have stuck to the oath that they take and has anyone held them accountable for violating their oath”.
“The Mir Jafars are a reality of our history! But those who ask questions can be abducted, tortured or worse simply for asking! Let’s hope it will truly be,” she added while posting the oath of the armed forces along with her tweet.
About the re-arrest of Senator Azam Khan Swati, she said that 31 FIRs against Swati have been lodged in Sindh and Balochistan as the Supreme Court remained blind to this mockery of its own judgement.
“The petulance of those doing this is dangerous as this vendetta against Swati can lead to his murder. No wonder with one man’s departure so many feel,” she added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022