RAWALPINDI – DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor while responding toquestions regarding candidates being ‘forced’ to switch parties, themilitary spokesperson questioned, “Has there ever been an election in whichcandidates haven’t jumped ship?”
Claiming that the environment in which 2013 general election was held wasmore difficult, DG ISPR said, “There was a different environment then andterrorists threatened to not allow politicians to campaign.”
Answering a question regarding the alleged role of ISI’s Major General FaizHamid in matters outside his domain, the army spokesperson dismissed theimpression, stating that Maj Gen Hamid has played an important role incombating terrorism and his detractors do not understand the scope of hispost.
Further, the DG ISPR said, “Neither me nor our field commanders give theiropinions on a daily basis but talk shows are held everyday from 7:00pmonwards where people share their opinions and say whatever they wish.”
“106 million Pakistanis will vote but is it possible for us to go to everycitizen and tell them who to vote for?” he asked while answering a questionregarding political engineering.
“Armed forces have a credibility and we cannot give a wrong order to asoldier risking his life for the nation,” he said while rejecting that themilitary is attempting to ‘influence’ the election.
He further urged, “Every single person should go out and vote for acandidate of their choice without any fear.”
Major General Ghafoor further clarified that the Inter ServicesIntelligence (ISI) had no role in the incident in Multan wherein anelection hopeful was beaten up.
With regards to reports that the ‘jeep’ electoral symbol signifiesassociation with the army, he quipped, “The jeep is not even the army jeep.”
“Electoral symbols are neither issued by the armed forces nor the ISI,” theDG ISPR upheld.
“Please stop looking at everything with suspicion,” he asserted.
With regards to a question regarding the involvement of banned outfits inthe polls, he said, “The ECP has a process of registering political partiesand anyone who has objections can approach the electoral body.”
Speaking about social media misuse which he had addressed at length duringhis last press conference, DG ISPR said, “We do not want to control socialmedia.”