Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has defended his tenure at the helm of the Army and condemned criticism of the military amid the 2018 elections that saw former Prime Minister Imran Khan win.
In his last public speech before leaving his post on November 29 after five years at the helm of the General Staff, Javed Bajwa has criticized the anti-military narrative in the country, while saying that if Pakistan wants to prosper, it is necessary to promote «tolerance.»
«Victory and defeat are part of politics and each party will have to develop its strength to accept both its victory and defeat so that in the next election an elected government comes in rather than an imported or selected one,» he said, adding that there is a need to «reject this behavior.»
«One of the main reasons for this (criticism) is the Army’s interference in politics for the last 70 years, which is unconstitutional,» he said, thus asserting that there is some kind of influence of the military space in the Pakistani political sphere.
In this way, he has indicated that «in February last year,» the Army stated that it would «never meddle in any political matter.» «I assure you that we are strictly adamant on this and will remain so,» he has indicated, as reported by the daily ‘Dawn’.
The army was widely criticized during the election campaign, which was marked by the arrest of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, convicted of corruption, and the accusations of numerous formations against the military for allegedly favoring Khan’s chances of victory.
The accusations of interference were rejected by the Army, which promised «no direct role» in the elections, although it carried out a record deployment of more than 370,000 troops on voting day, citing security reasons.
In particular, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called for the Army’s exit from Pakistani politics, while other opposition forces such as the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (2013-2017), also spoke out, accusing the Army of rigging the elections to ensure Khan’s victory in 2018.
Despite the fact that for the moment it is unknown who will succeed Javed Bajwa, former Prime Minister Khan, who is in contact with the country’s President Arif Alvi, has assured that the procedure marked by law will be followed.
