RAWALPINDI: The Pakistani Army Monday strongly reacted to PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s recent statement about appointment of army chief and said it was “aghast” over the statement.
In a public rally in Faisalabad, the PTI chairman called out the government, saying that it was delaying the elections to appoint an army chief of its own and that if a “patriotic chief of army staff comes in, he will not spare the incumbent rulers.”
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), in a statement, said that the army was “aghast” at the defamatory and uncalled-for statements about the senior leadership of the military by the PTI chairman during a Faisalabad rally.
The military’s media wing said that regrettably, an attempt was made to discredit and undermine the senior leadership of the army at a time when the institution was laying lives for the “security and safety of the people every day”.
The army said that senior politicians trying to stir controversies over the appointment of the COAS, the procedure for which is well-defined in the Constitution, is “most unfortunate and disappointing”.
The ISPR said the senior leadership of the army has decades-long impeccable and meritorious service to prove its “patriotic and professional credentials beyond any doubt”.
Politicising the senior leadership of the Pakistan Army and scandalising the process of selection of the COAS is neither in the interest of the state of Pakistan nor of the institution, it noted.
“Pakistan Army reiterates its commitment to uphold the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” the military’s media wing added.
In his speech at a jalsa in Faisalabad this Sunday, the PTI chairman said the coalition government was stalling the elections as they wanted to “appoint an army chief of their own choice.”
The PTI chairman said that PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and former premier Nawaz Sharif “feared” a strong and patriotic army chief, who could hold them accountable for the looted money they had stashed abroad.
Hours before the military’s response, the ruling coalition had castigated the PTI chairman for his remarks at the Faisalabad jalsa.
In a joint statement, the ruling coalition condemned Khan’s public meeting for spreading hatred against the Pakistan Army and its leadership and making “sensitive professional matters” controversial.
