Politicians, journalists to face music for dragging army into political affairs
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has once again issued a warning that the armed forces should be kept out of political discourse in the best interest of the country.
RAWALPINDI: The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has once again issued a warning that the armed forces should be kept out of political discourse in the best interest of the country.
After the Pakistan Army was discussed and targeted by different segments including politicians, journalists, social media and others, the ISPR was forced to issue another warning for not dragging the security institutions into the political affairs.
The second statement in a few months read, “Recently there have been intensified and deliberate attempts to drag Pakistan Armed Forces and their leadership in ongoing political discourse in the country.”
It read, “These attempts are manifest through direct, insinuated or nuanced references to the Armed Forces as well as their senior leadership, made by some political leaders, few journalists and analysts on public forums and various communication platforms including social media.”
“This practice of unsubstantiated, defamatory and provocative statements/remarks is extremely damaging.”
“Pakistan Armed Forces take strong exception to such unlawful and unethical practice and expect all to abide by the law and keep the armed forces out of political discourse in the best interest of the country,” the statement concluded.
The ISPR’s statement came forward after top politicians including Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, journalists including Hamid Mir, Saleem Safi, Sami Abraham, as well as other people on social media continued targeting the armed forces and their leadership in the ongoing political happenings in the country.
Maryam Nawaz, in her speech during Fateh Jang public gathering, directly named Commander Peshawar Corps Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, the former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), for supporting the Imran Khan-led PTI to rule in the country. She also alleged that the PTI government had fallen just after the transfer of Hameed and the appointment of a new ISI chief.
During his speeches, PTI Chairman Imran Khan had taunted the armed forces multiple times without naming it by saying that neutral is an animal. However, he did not directly target the leadership of the Pakistan Army but he just gave hints.
Awami Muslim League (AML) Chief Sheikh Rasheed has also blamed the armed forces for being in a sleeping mode when someone launched criticism against one of its generals. He added that Nawaz Sharif had used the Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s name 14 times and also used derogatory language against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed but why the army was sleeping at that time.
Several journalists have also targeted the armed forces as Najam Sethi said that the time of postings and transfers has arrived in the Pakistan Army and Faiz Hameed will soon be transferred to the GHQ anytime.
پاک فوج میں جنرلز کی پوسٹنگ اور ٹرانفرسز کا وقت قریب آن پہنچا ہے جبکہ کچھ ریٹائر ہو جائیں گے اور اب ان کی جگہ پر تقرر وتبادلے ہونگے۔ ذرائع کہہ رہے ہیں کہ جنرل فیض حمید کو جلد جی ایچ کیو میں ٹرانسفر کر دیا جائے گا، نجم سیٹھی pic.twitter.com/KKXVBhUfqG
— Murtaza Solangi (@murtazasolangi) May 6, 2022
Sami Abraham had also criticised the Pakistan Army for not taking action against Maryam Nawaz for her statements against the armed forces. He had been issued a notice by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for such statements in the latest development.
— Federal Investigation Agency – FIA (@FIA_Agency) May 8, 2022
It is the ISPR’s second statement to issue a warning against dragging the armed forces after the previous one was delivered in April.
In the previous statement during DG-ISPR’s press conference, Major General Babar Iftikhar had confirmed the veracity of the diplomatic cable and said that ‘conspiracy’ was not mentioned in the National Security Committee’s (NSC) communique but ‘blatant inference’ into the internal affairs of Pakistan.
The spokesperson of the military’s media wing, Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar had clarified that the military has no political role in the country nor has any influence on the independent judiciary.
On the other hand, former premier Imran Khan had reiterated the allegations of the ‘US-initiated regime change’ in his Twitter messages when the Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG-ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar was addressing a press conference.
