Pakistan

Gen Bajwa, Gen Faiz deny Fazl's claims of army's role in ousting Imran

Both former armymen advised JUI-F chief of refrain from making false accusations

Webdesk

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16 Feb 2024

Former COAS Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa and ex-DG ISI Lt Gen Faiz Hameed refuted the claims, leveled by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, of their involvement in ousting the former prime minister Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion in April 2022.

A day earlier, the JUI-F head made the startling revelations, claiming that the no-trust motion against Imran Khan was tabled by Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on the directives of Gen (retd) Bajwa and Lt Gen (retd) Faiz.

“They [Gen Bajwa and Gen Faiz] were in contact with all political parties regarding the Former military leaders deny Fazl's claims of army no-confidence motion and they told us the way of going about it,” Fazl said while talking to a private news channel.

“I was not in favour of the no-confidence move. Just for my friends, I sacrificed my opinion,” he added.

However, the former ary chief and ex-spymaster denied the claims advising JUI-F chief of refrain from making false accusations.

According to the sources close to ex-DG ISI, Mr Faiz said that the no-confidence motion was tabled after months of his transfer from DG ISI to Corps Commander Peshawar.

As per the sources close to ex-army head, Gen (retd) Bajwa said that he had met Fazl two times at the directions of Imran Khan to stop them from lodging a no-trust motion.

Mr Bajwa said the first meeting was held at his home at a time when Maulana was leading a Long March to Islamabad and the meeting had wrapped up without any consensus.

Another meeting was attended by all PDM leadership, including Shehbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Akhtar Mangal, Shahzain Bughti, and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

According to Mr Bajwa, in the second meeting, he suggested PDM leaders "not table a no-confidence motion but when they did not agree, he urged them to take a long march’s decision back and in return, Imran Khan will announce elections."

Both former army men claimed that they were trying to resolve matters between PDM and Imran Khan.