ISLAMABAD: Former Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser said on Saturday that extending the tenure of General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa in 2019 was a mistake but it was a collective decision of all political parties.
According to JEE News, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader admitted that he now regrets the decision. “Now everyone [in the party] realizes that the extension was a mistake,” he said.
However, he added that the extension was a “collective decision” of all political parties. When asked about the discussion behind the decision, Kaiser said, “It was the wrong decision, no matter why or how it was made.”
The PTI leader further said that political parties have become families which have no roots in the people.
Commenting on Imran Khan’s conditional offer for talks with the government, Qaiser said he was open to talks if early elections were part of the agenda.
In an interview to a private TV channel on Saturday, the PTI chief also admitted that extending the tenure of the former army chief was not the right decision. He termed this decision as his ‘biggest mistake’.
Khan said that he would trust what former COS General Bajwa said. “I will tell him that we are both thinking of the country; our goal is one – to save the country,” Khan said.
The former prime minister added that he did not know how he was being cheated and lied to.
The PTI chairman added that during the last few days, he received a report of a game being played by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), adding that his informant from the IB had written to him following the apprehension. Not verbally but verbally.
“I trust people. I even tell my children that a brave man does not doubt anyone,” Khan said.
Referring to the alleged conspiracies against his government, the PTI chairman said the execution of the game plan against him began after Lt Gen Faiz Hamid was removed from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Accusing the former army chief of treason, Khan said that whenever he asked Bajwa about the conspiracy, he replied that he wanted continuity.
He revealed that leaders of MQMP and other parties had also told him about the role of former Army Chief General Bajwa.
Commenting on his past decision, the former prime minister said: “Even then I thought that no one should be extended in the army, but circumstances arose that forced me to take this decision.
“After the extension decision, I felt that they (army) have started talking to PML-N.”
The PTI chief said that he believed that the army had also given some assurances to the PML-N and added that he was aware that they had removed Lt Gen Hamid from the post of ISI chief. Decided to remove them after being removed.
General (retd) Bajwa was scheduled to retire on November 29, 2019 at the end of his term, but the then Prime Minister Imran Khan extended his tenure by three years on August 19, 2019.
On November 28, 2019, the Supreme Court suspended the government order saying that there is no law to extend the tenure of the Army Chief.
However, the Supreme Court granted a six-month extension to General (retd) Bajwa after the government assured that Parliament would legislate for the extension/re-appointment of the Army Chief within six months.
The notification to extend the tenure of General (retd) Bajwa was finally issued on 28 January 2020, when Parliament passed a law to resolve the issue related to the extension of the army chief’s tenure.
