ISLAMABAD – Ousted Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has said that ArmyChief General Qamar Javed Bajwa should be given extension till nextelections.
The appointment of the next army chief should be postponed until the newgovernment is elected, Khan told a news channel during an interviewtelecast on Monday.
Khan has been making headlines recently due to his remarks aboutappointment of the new army chief. Addressing a public rally in Faisalabadearlier this month, the PTI chairman had said the government was delayingelections to appoint an army chief of its own.
Also on Monday, Khan said he was ready to hold talks with the coalitiongovernment on snap polls.
Regarding the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision to indict him in acontempt of court case on September 22, Khan said if the five-member benchhearing the case would have allowed him to say something, he would haveapologised. “I could have said what they wanted if they had allowed me tospeak,” he said.
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Taking a jibe at the coalition government’s performance, Khan said thecountry will be stuck in a quagmire if the incumbent rulers prolonged theirstay.
“The economy is shrinking while unemployment is rising,” Khan maintained,adding that such a record high inflation — which clocked in at 27.3% inAugust — was “never seen before in the history of Pakistan”. He said thegovernment will “further raise the electricity prices” as the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) has asked the coalition government to increase powertariffs.
