ISLAMABAD: Today’s joint press conference of Director General of ISI and DG ISPR appears a charge-sheet against Imran and PTI for running a venomous campaign against army and blaming them for different problems including the murder of Arshad Sharif.
It was the first-ever maiden joint press conference of Director General of ISI Lt-General Nadeem Anjum and DG ISPR Lt-General Babar Iftikhar in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
Both the Generals appeared very upset over the fresh propaganda against army in connection with the murder of Arshad Sharif.
DG ISI said that there was no threat to Arshad Sharif in Pakistan. Lt-General Nadeem said that Arshad Sharif was in touch with him and his staff members in Pakistan and in Dubai.
DG ISI pointed out that ARY’s owner Salman Iqbal influenced Arshad Sharif to leave Pakistan. He pointed out that Arshad Sharif was supposed to return to Pakistan on Sept 9, but he did not came back. DG ISI said that Salman Iqbal should be brought back to Pakistan to investigate him in connection with threat to Arshad and his murder in Kenya.
Exposing Imran Khan, DG ISI said that it is not possible that the former prime minister can meet army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in the night and then call him a traitor in the day. “If the army’s commander-in-chief is a traitor then why did you meet him in hiding? Meeting him is your right but it cannot be possible that you meet at night and call him a traitor at day,” DG ISI added.
ISI withdrew its officer from govt’s team
DG ISI also said that he has withdrawn ISI officer from the 3-member investigation team of the government which will probe the murder of Arshad Sharif in Kenya. He said that the officer of ISI had been removed from the government’s team to ensure free and fair investigation of the murder case which will be shared with the general public.
Both the Generals said that a social division has been created in the country, hate campaigns had been run against army chief, generals and the institution.
DG ISI said that he had been dubbed as Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq and he patiently faced this unfair criticism.
Meanwhile, DG ISPR said, “We are not traitors, we are loyal to the country.”
Cypher
Gen Iftikhar went on to say that Sharif’s popularity was based on being an investigative journalist and when the cypher — which PTI chief Imran Khan has touted as evidence of a foreign conspiracy to oust his government — surfaced, he conducted several programmes on the issue.
He held several meetings with the former premier and interviewed him, the DG ISPR said. “As a result, it was stated that he was shown meeting minutes and the cypher.”
The facts behind the cypher and Sharif’s death have to be determined, he said.
Talking about the cypher, Gen Iftikhar said that the army chief had discussed it with Imran on March 11 when the latter had termed it to be “not a big thing”.
“It was surprising for us when on March 27 a piece of paper was waved and an attempt was made to build a that was far from reality.”
He said that several facts had come to light regarding the cypher revealing the “baseless and unfounded” narrative surrounding it. The ISPR informed the National Security Committee that no proof was found regarding the conspiracy against the PTI government, he said, adding that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) also did not find any evidence regarding the conspiracy.
“This is all part of the record. We wanted to bring this to the public. And we left the decision to the-then government.”
However, this did not happen and more rumours were spread to gain political mileage, he said, adding that the Pakistan Army was also targeted.
At this time, Sharif and other journalists were fed a particular narrative and an attempt was made to defame Pakistan and the country’s institutions across the world, he said.
“In this media trial, ARY News played the role of a spin doctor in targeting the army and promoting a false narrative […] the NSC meeting was presented in the wrong context.”
Gen Iftikhar stated that the army was expected to intervene in domestic politics. “The word neutral and apolitical was turned into an abuse. To all this baseless narrative, the army chief and the institution showed restraint and we tried our level best that politicians sit together to resolve their issues.”
He noted that Sharif made strong comments regarding the army during this time but added that “we did not have any negative sentiments about him and we don’t have such feelings now”.
DG ISI Lt- General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum said, “I know you are shocked to see me amongst yourself, and I can understand your surprise. My policy on my pictures and public appearances has been clear for the past year to which my agency and I strictly adhere,” said DG ISI.
“But today is a different day, I am not here for myself but for my institution, whose soldiers and officers sacrifice their lives every day for this country. Especially, I have come here for my agency whose officers and agents all over the world protect this country 24 hours a day”
“I cannot remain silent when they are made targets of uncalled-for criticism on the basis of lies then as the leader of this institution, I cannot remain silent.”
“You should know that this narrative has been 100 per cent constructed on the basis of lies,” said DG ISI.
“But you should know why this narrative was constructed in the first place. Calling someone Mir Jaffar, Mir Sadiq, traitor, neutral and an animal was not because my agency or the army chief were disloyal. It is also not because he [army chief] did something unconstitutional or unlawful. It is because he, his institution, refused to do something unconstitutional and unlawful”.
“Last year, the establishment decided to confine itself to its constitutional role. This was not an individual decision, this was not just a decision on part of the COAS. It was something that was heavily debated within the institution and we came to the conclusion that the country’s benefit and the institution’s benefit are only in limiting ourselves to our constitutional role” and “get out of politics”.
Threat letter for KP
During the press conference, the DG ISPR revealed that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on August 5 issued a threat letter on the directives of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan which stated that a Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter group was looking to target Sharif.
“In this regard, no info was shared with the institutions who provided them the information.”
