Ex-premier Imran Khan demands inquiry against General Bajwa

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan has asked President Arif Alvi to institute an immediate inquiry against ex-chief of the army staff General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa for violating “his oath of office repeatedly” as the army chief.

Imran Khan wrote a letter to the president which was posted on her twitter handle by PTI leader Shireen Mazari on Thursday. The letter was delivered by PTI leader Shibli Faraz to the President’s House in Islamabad, while the resolution passed on Jan 29 by the PTI core committee was also attached to the letter.

Imran asked President Alvi to take notice of the alleged role of powerful circles in politics and to take measures against human rights violations in PTI leaders’ arrests.

In the letter dated February 14, Imran Khan mentioned four occasions when General Bajwa allegedly violated the Constitution, while also referring to former army chief’s alleged remarks published in a newspaper column by Javed Chaudhry as purported evidence for his claim.

The PTI chief wrote that Gen Bajwa had “admitted to journalist Javed Chaudhry that ‘we’ considered Imran Khan as dangerous to the country if he continued to stay in power”. He further said it would be “critical to ascertain” from Gen Bajwa that who did he refer to as “we”.

Imran Khan remarked “Who gave Gen Bajwa the power to decide that an elected prime minister was supposedly a ‘danger to the country if he continued to stay in power’?” He maintained “Only the people through elections can decide who they want to elect as the prime minister. Taking such a right on himself is in clear violation of his oath as given in Third Schedule Article 244 of the Constitution.”

The former prime minister also recalled Gen Bajwa’s alleged admission that he “managed to get NAB (National Accountability Bureau) case against Shaukat Tarin dismissed”. Imran claimed this revealed that the NAB was under Bajwa’s control, which was “again a clear violation of the constitutional oath because the army itself is a department under the Ministry of Defence and civilian official autonomous institutions do not come under military control”.

Imran Khan wrote that the KP governor said that institutions will decide the date of the elections. The PTI chief said in the letter that the resolution was passed by the PTI to bring the abduction, and fake cases, to your attention. Furthermore, the letter stated that the resolution urges you to take notice of the basic constitutional rights violation.