Islamabad:
Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) admitted on Sunday that providing a service expansion to the former Army Chief Gen (RETD) Qamar Javed Bajwa was a mistake in which he apologized for the nation over the decision and never promised to be part of such practice again.
The recording and apology came from PTI senior leader and former National Assembly’s speeches Asad Qaiser during a joint press conference by Tehreek Tahafuz Aain Pakistan (TTAP) leaders in Islamabad.
“The decision on Bajwa’s expansion was wrong; I think it was our historically wrong decision,” Qaiser said, answering a question of former Coas’s expansion. “We apologize for the whole nation [on this decision]”he added.” We will not be part of any such decision in the future. “
TTAP chief and veteran politician Mahmood Khan Achakzai added that neither civil nor military official should be awarded service extensions, arguing that agreements should be made solely on profit – the only principle, he said, crucial to Pakistan’s progress.
At the end of 2019, Pakistan faced an unprecedented legal standoff over then-Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to give a three-year extension to Gen Bajwa, whose election period was to be terminated on November 28. Only two days before his retirement date, the Supreme Court suspended the expansion while hearing a petition that challenged it-the first case in the country’s history.
The government had justified the expansion by quoting regional security concerns, including India’s recall of Kashmir’s autonomy and Pakistan’s role in the US-Afghan peace process. However, critics considered it a political calculation to ensure Khan’s own term of office considering the army’s perceived role in facilitating his rise to power.
Under his comments, Qaiser not only criticized the current management model, but also called it “illegal, unpublished and undemocratic,” in which he claimed the country was under a “practical match” where decisions were made under institutional pressure rather than profits.
PTI -Stalwart said his party believed that cases of political prisoners, including party founder Imran Khan, should be heard on profits and without external influence, adding that live media coverage of litigation would postpone the reality of the procedure.
On the so-called 27th constitutional amendment, Qaiser said PTI would use any available forum parliament, courts and public mobilization-to resist it and add that a lawyer movement would be initiated as well.
He said the party would turn to the legal fraternity to challenge any such step, begin consultations with the Islamabad bar this month, collaborate with foreign diplomats and hold seminars to highlight its concerns.
Achakzai, who spoke on the same press conference, emphasized that the TTAP movement would avoid personal attacks and focus on constitutional protection, adding that political differences should not undermine democratic principles.
He remembered to visit PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz during their prison in the past and noted that “party leaders would visit them in flocks and no one would object”.
Achakzai, who criticized Pakistan’s political and government falls, warned that as public anger rises, even the most rooted rulers can be removed.
He called for a political agreement to secure supremacy of the Constitution, judicial independence, the establishment of a credible election commission, media freedom and a cessation of harassment by journalists – who said all parties should sign such a document.
Former PML-N leader and SINDH Governor Muhammad Zubair also addressed the collection and highlighted the country’s elaborate economic crisis. He quoted record inflation – with weekly price increases affected 50 percent and total inflation that hit 38 percent – and said such levels had never been seen before in Pakistan.
Zubair said more than 110 million people had fallen below the poverty line with the total unemployment of 22 percent and youth unemployment of 30 percent. He pointed to a sharp increase in public debt and noted that while PTI’s tenure experienced an increase in RS19 trillion, the last three and a half years had added more RS38 trillion.
Foreign investment, he said, was now on a 50-year-old low despite promises of major influxes. He noted a decrease in GDP growth to an average of 1.62 percent against a population growth of 2.6 percent along with a 60 percent decrease in purchasing power over three years.
He called the educational state “shameful”, he quoted 27 million children outside the school and malnutrition affecting 40 percent of children. Businesses in the public sector, he added, incurred losses on RS1 trillion, which further strained national economies.
