Lahore (Web Desk): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan has asked President Arif Alvi to order an inquiry against former chief of army staff (COAS) General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa for 'violating' his oath and the constitution.
In a letter written to the president dated February 14, the PTI chief said, “Some very disturbing information has now come into the public domain whereby it is clear that Gen retd Bajwa as COAS violated his oath of office repeatedly.”
Imran Khan reffered to General Bajwa’s alleged remarks, published on February 9 in a column by Javed Chaudhry, as purported evidence for his claim.
PTI leader and former minister Shireen Mazari also announced her party chief’s move on her Twitter account, sharing pictures of the said letter.
Citing column of Javed Chaudhry, Imran Khan wrote that General Bajwa had "admitted to journalist that 'we' considered Imran Khan [to be] dangerous to the country if he continued to stay in power."
"It would be "critical to ascertain" from Gen Bajwa that who did he refer to as "we", Khan said, raising the question that raised the question, 'Who gave him (Gen Bajwa) the power to decide that an elected prime minister (Imran) was supposedly a ‘danger to the country if he continued to stay in power’?”
The former premier noted that only the people through elections can decide who they want to elect as prime minister.
"Taking such a right on himself is in clear violation of his oath as given in Third Schedule Article 244 of the Constitution," Khan alleged.
While referring to Shaukat Tarin’s corruption case, about which Bajwa claimed that the former finance minister approached the then spymaster General (retd) Faiz Hamid to get this matter sorted out.
“Regardless of the merits of his claims in this case, he has also admitted he managed to get NAB case against Shaukat Tarin dismissed revealing that NAB was under his control, again a clear violation of the Constitutional oath because the army itself is a department under the Ministry of Defence and civilian official autonomous institutions do not come military control,” the PTI chief wrote.
The former prime minister alleged that Gen (retd) Bajwa violated his oath when he publicly went against the then government’s policy of maintaining neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“He did this at an international conference in Islamabad on April 2, 2022 — the Islamabad Security Conference. I would like to point out that the govt policy was arrived at after developing a consensus of all stakeholders including MOFA and retired diplomats who had the relevant experience and were area specialists,” Imran Khan added.
Citing Chapter II of the Constitution, which "describes the mandate of the armed forces and specifically refers to Articles 243 and 244", the former premier reminded Dr Arif Alvi that it was his "constitutional duty as President and as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces to take immediate action and institute an inquiry".
Imran Khan demanded that an inquiry be initiated to "establish whether such grave violations of the Constitution and oath of Office under the Constitution have taken place".