Pakistan Army rejects report of Imran Khan ordering dismissal of General Bajwa ahead of no-trust vote
Apr 10, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], April 10 : The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) of the Pakistan Army on Sunday rejected the contents of a BBC Urdu report which hinted that former Prime Minister Imran Khan had ordered the sacking of the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa hours before his government was ousted.
The BBC Urdu report, without taking any names directly had hinted that Imran Khan had ordered the sacking of General Bajwa, after which the Army Chief arrived with "another senior official" at the Prime Minister's House and held a 45-minute meeting.
The report gave several other details, including the preparations made by the country's Ministry of Defence to declare the sacking order null and void, the moment it was notified.
"There is no truth in the fake story whatsoever and clearly seems part of an organised disinformation campaign. The matter is being taken up with BBC authorities," ISPR said in a statement.
The media affairs wing of the country's military also said that the report is "typical propaganda" lacking "any credible, authentic and relevant source" and claimed that it "violates basic journalistic ethos", Dawn reported.
Notably, amid the dramatic turn of events in the follow-up to the vote of no-confidence, Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court Athar Minallah had decided to open the Court late on Saturday. Soon after, a petition was filed asking the court to restrain Prime Minister Imran Khan from de-notifying General Qamar Jawed Bajwa as the COAS.
former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was ousted from power in the wee hours of Sunday, following an action-filled Saturday, which saw several adjournments of the Supreme Court-mandated National Assembly session on the no-confidence motion, as well as a series of meetings and heightened political activity towards the evening.
The vote on the no-confidence motion was finally held after midnight, after speaker Asad Qaiser and deputy speaker, Qasim Suri resigned from their respective positions, handing over the charge of chairing the House to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ayaz Sadiq.
The motion on no-confidence was passed with 174 members voting in favour of the motion.
