Rawalpindi. A senior official has said that head of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir has no advisers in an official property.
The statement came a day after the British daily newspaper Financial Times (FT) referred to so -called “advisers to Army Manager Field Marshal Asim Munir” in a report of a proposed port along the Arabian Ocean.
The official declared that “conversations or proposals from private individuals or commercial units are exploratory and should not be interpreted as state initiatives.”
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According to the FT report, the plan represents American Investors Building and Operating A Terminal in Pasni, Balochistan, designed to facilitate access to Pakistan’s critical mineral resources.
The security officer explained that a concept with a port on the southern coast also appeared in private discussions with Mota Engil Group. “It has not been submitted through official channels, has not been reviewed at any strategic or state level and is still a commercial idea pending appropriate consideration.”
The FT report follows a high-level meeting in September, when Field Marshal Munir accompanied Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the White House for conversations with US President Donald Trump.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister invited US companies to invest in Pakistan’s agriculture, technology, mining and energy sectors.
According to the FT report, the port proposal was floated with some US officials and was shared with Field Marshal Munir prior to the White House meeting.
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Blueprint excludes the use of the port for US military purposes and aims instead of attracting development financing to a rail network connecting the proposed terminal to mineral -rich Western provinces, the report added.
The security officer said, “It [FT] The piece recognizes that it is not official policy, but still involves a link to the army chief – which is not exactly. “
With additional input from Reuters
