ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and ex-prime minister Imran Khan on Friday categorically said that if he gets re-elected as prime minister, he will “not de-notify” the army chief.
Taking to journalists inside the courtroom of Islamabad High Court (IHC), he said: “There is no rule of law in the country and it is run by only one man and that’s the Army chief [Asim Munir]”.
Khan also vowed that if he gets re-elected as the Pakistan PM he will “not de-notify” the army chief, adding that “the army chief [Asim Munir] is feeling a bit insecure as I’d removed him as director-general Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). I will ‘not de-notify’ him when I come to power.”
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To a question whether it is a battle of survival between him and the powerful military establishment, he reiterated: “No, It’s just one man and that’s the army chief.”
When asked whether he has any regret about getting the support of the military in 2018 general elections to come into power, the firebrand Khan plainly stated that “my party was never brought into power by the military.”
About his close association with the military leadership after coming into power in 2018, he admitted it was his biggest mistake.
“Yes, I made a mistake because I trusted the then army chief [Qamar Javed Bajwa]. The concession here we made was for the sake of the country’s uplift and development, but at the end of the day he [Bajwa] stabbed me in the back as he wanted another extension.”
He said there is no democracy in the military and the military is getting maligned by what is happening right now in the country.
Khan said he only wanted an independent inquiry into the assassination attempt on his life in Wazirabad but it was not allowed and questioned “Who has the powers to stop such a high-profile inquiry.”
“I survived an assassination attempt in Wazirabad and then again an attempt was made to eliminate me at Federal Judicial Complex and if I’d come out from my vehicle, I would have been killed,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023