ISLAMABAD – The Chief minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has openly expressedhis support for Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, even as many in hisparty blame the military establishment for the current political crisisfacing the Sharifs.
“The civilian and military authorities must work together to counter thechallenges facing Pakistan,” he said, while talking to journalists at theKidney and Liver Transplant Institute on Wednesday.
The chief minister recently returned to the country after visiting Londonfor over a week, during which he held several meetings with politicalleaders. Answering a question, he said that he had read about the ‘BajwaDoctrine’ in news reports and was not aware of it much beyond them.
He said that in a meeting he had had with the chief of the army staff, hehad found him to be professional and straightforward. “We must respect andhonour the efforts the army chief is making (to safeguard nationalinterests).”
He said the sacrifices made by the armed forces to ensure the country’sdefence and to eliminate terrorism and fanaticism should be appreciated.
Replying to a query regarding the active role played by the NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB) recently, he said NAB had a basicresponsibility to investigate corruption and dishonesty.
“It is the responsibility of NAB to ensure accountability and toinvestigate dishonesty, whether it is by a minister or a bureaucrat… butthis accountability needs to be indiscriminate.”
He said the authority should the recover money from established casesinvolving billions of rupees. “Whether it is the PML-N, PTI or PPP, it willbe a great loss to the nation if the accountability process suffers due topolitical expeditiousness.” He said he too had appeared before NAB andanswered their queries.