Pak ex-PM Imran admits he offered extension to Army chief Bajwa
Pakistans ousted prime minister Imran Khan has admitted that he offered an extension in the tenure of Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in March amid the oppositions attempt to topple his government.
Khans remarks came after Pakistans ISI chief Lt Gen Nadeem Najum revealed at an unprecedented press conference on Thursday that the army chief was given a “lucrative offer” for an indefinite extension in his tenure in March this year.
“It was made in front of me. He (Gen Bajwa) rejected it because he wanted the institution to move forward from a controversial role to a constitutional role,” the ISI chief said, without naming former premier Khan.
Khan told 92 News TV in an interview on Thursday that he told the army chief that if the then opposition was offering him an extension, then he could do the same, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
I repeatedly warned Gen Bajwa that if this no-confidence motion succeeds, it will have a direct impact on the economy and no one would be able to control it as the economy will go into a tailspin, he said.
Khan said he also asked the top military leaders as to why did they hold a press conference to discuss political matters if they were apolitical.
Gen Anjum addressed the first-ever media interaction by any ISI chief in Pakistans history on Thursday.
The press conference came as the country was grappling with different versions about the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya and indirect allegations against the armed forces.
Sharif was shot dead at a police checkpoint at an hours distance from Nairobi on Sunday night, creating a storm in the country. The Kenyan police later said it was a case of mistaken identity during a search for a similar car involved in a child abduction case.
Spoke about the killing of Sharif, Khan said the killing of the senior journalist was not an accident and his murder was planned in Pakistan.
“Ive made a video and named people… If Im killed the personalities involved will also be killed in three to five hours,” he said.
Separately, Khan reiterated his claim that a foreign conspiracy was hatched to topple his government.
Addressing the
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