Pakistan army denies role in change of government

Pakistan army denies role in change of government

Outgoing Army Chief Gen Bajwa says military will no longer be involved in country's politics

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan's outgoing army chief on Wednesday denied any role in the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, insisting that the country's powerful military is no longer intervening in politics.

Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa gave a passionate defense of the military's overall role in his final speech as powerful Pakistan Army chief at a Defense and Martyrs ceremony in the northeastern garrison city of Rawalpindi to remember the fallen soldiers of the 1965 war against arch-rival India but acknowledged that it did have an involvement in the country's checkered politics over the past decades.

The world's sixth-largest army has ruled the South Asian nuclear power for half of its history since 1947. No elected prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term.

In a less than hour-long speech, Bajwa, who is retiring next week after a six-year command, admitted that the army's political intervention over the past 70 years was "unconstitutional."

In February of last year, he went on to say, the army, "after detailed deliberation" decided that it would no longer be involved in politics and that " I assure you, we are strictly adamant on this and will remain so.”

Without naming Khan, he said some forces are spreading a "fake narrative" to portray his ouster through a no-trust move in the parliament as a "foreign conspiracy."

If there is a foreign conspiracy, the army cannot remain silent because "it is the greatest sin," he said.

"After losing a no-trust move in 2022, the incoming government was dubbed as (an) imported government," Bajwa said, in a thinly veiled reference to Khan, who accused the US and the army of ousting his government in April.

Washington has time and again denied the allegation.

In his latest interviews, Khan avoided repeating his theme, saying he wanted to work with Washington "in the better interest of Pakistan."

Khan avoided repeating his theme in recent interviews, saying he wanted to work with Washington “in the better interest of Pakistan."


- ‘East Pakistan’


This week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will pick a new army chief out of six senior most three-star generals.

Two of the six generals will be appointed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and army chief for three years each.

During his speech, Bajwa also tried to absolve the army of the country's separation from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, in 1971, following a weeks-long war with India.

Instead, he blamed Pakistan's then-political leadership for the country's disintegration.

"1971 (the fall of Dhaka) was not a military debacle, but a political failure," he contended.

This statement comes after the ousted premier referred to the event as a result of military action in then-East Pakistan in his rallies.


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