On Monday, Pakistani President Dr Arif Alvi denied reports quoting him saying that former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa helped Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party to win the 2018 general elections.
Alvi said media reports were “twisted and self-concocted” and taken out of context, adding that the comments were “wrongly attributed to him.”
The rebuke comes in response to an article by The News, which reported that Alvi told journalists, business community leaders, and foreign diplomats on Saturday that “General Bajwa and his team” helped PTI chief Imran Khan win the senate and general elections in 2018.
The report also noted that Alvi questioned the army’s neutrality in Pakistani politics. He recalled that during the PTI government’s tenure, the military interfered with the functioning of the National Accountability Bureau.
President Dr. Arif Alvi has taken notice of the statement wrongly attributed to him about the alleged help extended by the former Chief of Army Staff, General (r) Qamar Javed Bajwa, and his team in the Senate, and their help to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) during the elections. pic.twitter.com/LGTKhBwyYU
— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) December 26, 2022
Addressing the military, he said “if you’ve left politics – you’ve left it only the day before yesterday.” Nevertheless, he noted that if the armed forces’ claim was true, politicians must step in and take control of the situation to ensure that the government does not have to turn to the army for help in the future.
Bajwa has previously been accused of not only helping the PTI in the 2018 elections but also interfering in the civilian government’s actions.
A day before the report, Minister for Economic Affairs Ayaz Sadiq on Sunday demanded that Bajwa declare his role in the 2018 elections. He claimed that the Grand Democratic Alliance members were pressurised to support the PTI and form the winning coalition.
Similarly, Punjab’s Chief Minister and PTI ally Chaudhry Pervez Elahi warned the “ungrateful” PTI to keep its comments against Bajwa “within limits” considering his “favours” for the party.
Imran khan plz show dare and respond since to ch Pervaiz Illahi who bulldozed you on the issue of attacking ex COAS Generel Bajwa and Pakistan Army — pic.twitter.com/Z48cPazTNN
— Kamran Shahid (@FrontlineKamran) December 18, 2022
He was reiterating his son, Moonis Elahi’s, claim that Bajwa had instructed his Pakistani Muslim League-Q party to support PTI in March’s no-confidence motion. He added that the PTI considered Bajwa “perfectly fine” when he was supporting them, following which the party termed him as a “turncoat.”
Moonis Elahi said, “I have offered the PTI to come on TV and prove to me that he is a traitor and I will show you just how much the man did for [the party].”
A report by The News on Wednesday further quoted Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif’s Special Assistant Malik Ahmad Khan saying that Bajwa had pressurised then-Chief Justice Saqib Nisar to declare Imran Khan’s Banigala residence case in his favour.
Responding to the claim, Saqid Nisar rubbished the statement, saying while residences in Banigala were illegally constructed, the case before him was on the question of regularisation of the properties as they could not be demolished in entirety.
“We were constantly told that they want continuity, while in the background conspiracy was happening”-@ImranKhanPTI pic.twitter.com/0JOEjowHOu
— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 3, 2022
Amid reports of Bajwa helping the PTI government, former PM Imran Khan has launched his own attacks on the former COAS. Earlier this month, Khan accused Bajwa of playing “double games” with his administration.
He said, “I would believe in everything General Bajwa would tell me because our interests were the same that we had to save the country.”
He accused the army of conspiring to bring down the PTI government with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif. “I did not get to know how the lies were spoken and I was betrayed,” he added.
As a result, Khan stressed that his decision to extend Bajwa’s tenure in 2019 was a “big mistake.”
The Pakistani army holds significant influence over domestic politics in Pakistan. In fact, the country has been ruled by a military government for half of its 75 years of independence. More concerningly, no PM has successfully completed their term as the head of the government.
In fact, in his outgoing speech, Bajwa admitted that the army interfered in the government’s functioning. He added that the military institution decided last February to bring an end to 70 years of the army’s “unconstitutional” and “constant meddling” in politics after politicians targeted the establishment using “false and made-up narratives.”