Senior journalists and bureaucrats recently sat down with General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa link for a lengthy and frank conversation in which he admitted that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted by the military establishment.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, his governance and other matters including his relationship with the establishment also came under the discussion during the candid meeting, it has been reported in local media.
General Bajwa said that the best relationship of his career was with Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
“Nawaz Sharif trusted me so much that he assigned me the duty of strengthening relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” said the former army chief.
In response to some questions, Gen (r) Bajwa quietly acknowledged that Nawaz Sharif was ousted by the military establishment.
According to 24 News the former top general criticised the Pakistani bureaucracy as well as some of the policies of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
“The Chinese themselves came to meet me and complained that they cannot work with your bureaucracy. They deliberately create problems and complications for us,” Bajwa claimed.
Talking about Imran Khan’s visit to Russia, former army chief said: “When I came to the meeting, the entire cabinet including Asad Umar said in unison that there should be a visit to Russia. Since we don’t do any business with Russia and it doesn’t support us in international forums, I also concurred.”
On the contrary, Gen (r) Bajwa said, Russian President Putin used Imran Khan. He had waged a war on Ukraine, and through Imran Khan’s visit, Putin gave an impression to the world that Pakistan was with Russia,” he stated.
The former military commander termed the cipher conspiracy and the “absolutely not” narrative a blatant lie and bogus propaganda and said such political stunts had caused great damage to Pakistan.
“Now, Imran Khan is presenting another lie that he was the prime minister, and the army was controlling the country. [But] Imran Khan used to make all the choices himself. He selected incompetent and useless people who did not have the capacity to deliver,” he added.