LAHORE: Former prime minister Imran Khan has asked President Arif Alvi to order an inquiry against former chief of army staff (COAS) General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa for his alleged violation of oath and the Constitution of Pakistan.
“Some very disturbing information has now come into the public domain whereby it is clear that Gen retd Bajwa as COAS violated his oath of office repeatedly,” the PTI chief stated in a letter written to the president, shared publicly on the party’s official social media channels today.
Imran Khan mentioned that the former army chief committed “violations” and requested Arif Alvi “as supreme commander of the armed forces to institute an immediate inquiry” against him.
The PTI chairman referred to a column published in a newspaper earlier this month in which startling revelations about Imran Khan’s government were made attributing General (retd) Bajwa.
“He has admitted to a journalist that ‘we’ (and it would be critical to ascertain from him who was the ‘we’ in reference to) considered Imran Khan dangerous to the country if he continued to stay in power,” Khan said, adding the question that arises is who gave him the power to decide that an elected prime minister was supposedly a danger to the country.
The PTI chairman noted that only the people through elections can decide who they want to elect as 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,” he alleged.
While referring to Shaukat Tarin’s corruption case, about which Bajwa claimed that the former finance minister approached the then spymaster General (retd) Faiz Hamid to get this matter sorted out.
“Regardless of the merits of his claims in this case, he has also admitted he managed to get NAB case against Shaukat Tarin dismissed revealing that NAB was under his control — 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 military control,” Khan wrote.
The former prime minister, while quoting another journalist, said that Gen (retd) Bajwa had “tapes of then PM Imran Khan’s conversations with him”.
The PTI chief wrote that this is a “serious violation” again of the former army chief’s oath and a “violation” of fundamental human rights.
“The question is why and under what authorisation was Gen Bajwa recording confidential conversations?”
Imran Khan alleged that Gen (retd) Bajwa violated his oath when he publicly went against the then government’s policy of maintaining neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“He did this at an international conference in Islamabad on 2 April 2022 — the Islamabad Security Conference. I would like to point out that the govt policy was arrived at after developing a consensus of all stakeholders including MOFA and retired diplomats who had the relevant experience and were area specialists,” he wrote.
“I would also point out that Chapter II of the Constitution describes the mandate of the Armed Forces and specifically refers to Articles 243 and 244. Therefore it is your Constitutional duty as President and as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces to take immediate action and institute an inquiry so as to establish whether such grave violations of the Constitution and oath of Office under the Constitution have taken place.”
Imran vs Bajwa
The PTI chief has held General (retd) Bajwa responsible for the ouster of his government, saying the former army chief conspired with the current rulers to remove him from the PM Office.
Earlier on Sunday, taking a U-turn on his US-backed regime change conspiracy theory, the former prime minister blamed the ex-COAS for hatching a conspiracy to remove the PTI government in April.
In an interview with the US broadcaster, Voice of America, Imran Khan claimed that Bajwa had close ties with PM Shehbaz Sharif and they “conspired”, and as a result the “regime change took place”.
“Whatever happened, now as things unfold, it wasn’t the US who told Pakistan [to oust me]. It was unfortunately, from what evidence has come up, Gen (retd) Bajwa who somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-American. And so, it [the plan to oust me] wasn’t imported from there. It was exported from here to there,” the PTI chairman told the US publication.