KARACHI: Business leaders who met Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir criticized the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for calling it a “mafia” after discussing the economy with the army chief.
In a meeting with a handful of businessmen earlier this week, General Asim Munir assured them that together they would get the country out of trouble. He told the businessmen that friendly countries are ready to invest in information technology, agriculture, mining and real estate sectors.
However, PTI expressed anxiety over the meeting of the businessmen with the Army Chief. The party branded the business community a “mafia” and included them in a list of people it accused of involvement in bringing down the Imran Khan-led government last year.
The party said businessmen had painted a gloomy picture of the country even before the then Army Chief General (retd) Bajwa.
In a tweet on March 7, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry reacted to the meeting, saying, “We know very well the businessmen who were involved in the regime change. They meet only to protect the mafia.”
We exactly know businessmen who were fully involved in regime change they only gather to protect Mafia’s, Institutional leadership need to understand there interest is not Pakistan but for them self interest is supreme https://t.co/ycsHZ9YWRa
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) March 7, 2023
A few businessmen who spoke to the publication on condition of anonymity expressed displeasure over the PTI’s stance on the meeting.
A businessman said, “What can I say about this strange statement?” The blame for regime change has shifted from America to the business community.
Another businessman said that the practice of interference of the Army Chief in economic matters and business community meetings with him was started by Imran Khan himself. Imran Khan called us and assured improvement when NAB’s activities and economic policies hurt the business community. He asked us to meet the army chief for bail.
He further claimed that Imran had told him during his tenure that the army was the only organized institution in the country and that he could take help from the Army Chief and the Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (IS) if needed.
He said that after that the then Army Chief General (R) Bajwa called him to Rawalpindi and sometimes met him in Lahore and Karachi and assured him that he would not be harassed under Imran Khan. The government and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will not take action without reason. Rather, they will get support in their investment.
He said that General (Rtd) Bajwa then told him that he had a mandate from the then Prime Minister Imran to meet and assure him. He further said that when the army chief visits Saudi Arabia to seek funds and help from the UAE and on other occasions when the LNG deal with Qatar is signed, no such thing has been seen.
Another businessman, when asked to comment on the allegation, corroborated the claim that the practice of meeting businessmen with the army chief began in 2018 and that the ISI chief himself had been involved in power companies. Had a deal with. “I am fully aware of them, because I myself own a power company”, he said.
The businessman said that the DG of Military Intelligence helped finalize the Rekodic deal. A cell was established in GHQ to withdraw Pakistan from FATF. Sale often consulted with the business community. Now that the business community has met General Asim Munir, it is being called a mafia.
The businessman further said that the PTI chief himself formed a National Development Council in 2019 in which the Army Chief was included as a member.
When another businessman was told that Imran Khan was accusing the business community of being part of a regime change plot as he often complained to the army chief about the state of the economy, he said PTI I was in a bad state of economy. period of government.”
He said that the business community did not advise MQM and other allies of PTI against supporting the government.
Imran Khan himself was running politics through the army. And when the army refused to play its part, Imran Khan’s allies dumped them.
