Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has rejected the allegation of ISI chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum about the former prime minister making any unconstitutional demands during “backdoor talks”. The remark comes after Lt Gen Anjum held a press conference — first ever press conference by ISI chief in the country — where he launched a veiled attack on former PM Imran Khan. “As chief of this agency (Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI), I cannot remain silent when they are targeted for no reason,” Lt Gen Anjum said. He said Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was given a “lucrative offer” in March by the then government amidst the political turmoil.
PTI leaders Asad Umar, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry and Shireen Mazari, in a press conference, said that Khan never made any unconstitutional demands during “backdoor talks” with the army chief. Umar refuted the claims saying, matters discussed behind closed doors were no “secrets” as Khan discussed them in rallies and conferences too. “The demands have been in front of the public since forever,” he said.
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The “lucrative offer”, as alleged by the ISI chief, was an indefinite extension of the tenure. “It was made in front of me. He (Gen Bajwa) rejected it because he wanted the institution to move forward from a controversial role to a constitutional role,” the ISI chief said without naming Imran Khan.
“If you see him as a traitor, then why do you meet him through the back door?” the ISI chief said. “You meet quietly at night through the back door and express your unconstitutional wishes but call [the army chief] a traitor in broad daylight. That’s a big contradiction between your words and your actions,” he said.
