ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif Wednesday said the appointment of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) is done on merit. Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Wednesday alongside Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, he said it is highly objectionable to politicise an institution like the armed forces of the country. No one has the right to defame state institutions, he said.
The defence minister said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman, Imran Khan, has time and again tried to use the state institutions for building his political narratives.
He said Khan first gives a controversial statement and then takes a U-turn by giving lame excuses of contexts and merit.
Lamenting the former premier’s claims about the appointment of the COAS on merit, Asif said Khan was deliberately raising questions about the appointment process.
The defence minister asked whether Usman Buzdar and the KP’s chief minister were appointed on merit. “Was corruption under the previous government investigated on merit?” he asked.
Khawaja Asif for not making army chief’s appointment ‘political debate’
The minister further claimed that the PTI had also distanced itself from Khan’s statements and his close friends were offering rebuttals. “No one in the party is ready to defend him”, said Asif.
He said the recommendations for the heads of the three military divisions army, navy and the air force, were sent to the prime minister who made the decision after consultation with others.
Referring to the PTI chief’s comments, he said the situation was such for the PTI that even Imran’s confidantes remained mum, made excuses or avoided the question when they were asked for their opinion on their leader’s comments.
“The president also disassociated himself from what Imran Khan said.”
The defence minister called on the PTI chief to tell when army appointments were not done on merit. “Our last appointment of the current army chief was endorsed by them [the PTI]” Asif said, adding that Imran might have seldom praised anyone in the last three years as he did COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
He alleged that Imran’s confidence in the army chief was so high that he did not chair several important political meetings or security briefings himself and left them to General Bajwa to preside over.
“Now that they no longer have power, every person of theirs is attacking our military leadership and deliberately creating doubt and suspicion for the upcoming army chief’s appointment.”
Asif said that even if Imran’s point about merit was considered, he questioned if appointments made under the PTI’s tenure of former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan were on merit.
The defence minister also raised a list of alleged corruption cases regarding the PTI government, such as the Peshawar BRT inquiry, Toshakhana reference, legalising an amount to Bahria Town, and others, and questioned whether merit was considered in those matters as well.
He also criticised the PTI government for allegedly failing to investigate various scandals during its tenure such as the sugar and wheat shortages. “They investigated no corruption case on merit. Was this merit? What merit does he speak of?” Asif asked.
He claimed that people within the PTI were abandoning Imran and no one was defending him for his recent comments.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022