Islamabad: There have been reports in Pakistani media that Prime Minister Imran Khan had tried to sack Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa before being ousted from power so that someone who was a “foreigner” would come. be more sympathetic to his claim of “conspiracy” and his intention to remain in power. BBC Urdu said a helicopter carrying “two uninvited guests” landed at the prime minister’s residence in the night and they were escorted into a building by army personnel.
Both of them met Khan for 45 minutes. The news said that no official information has been provided about the meeting but it did not take place in a cordial atmosphere. According to the news, “The Prime Minister had issued an order an hour ago to remove one of the high officials who came to meet him. So the Prime Minister did not expect these uninvited guests to come. Imran Khan was waiting for a helicopter to arrive but the people who came in the helicopter did not have any idea or expectations. It said that Khan hoped that his “newly appointed officers” would arrive in the helicopter, whose arrival would put an end to all the political turmoil.
The report said the “change” effort failed as the Defense Ministry did not issue the necessary notification for the new appointment. The BBC did not reveal the identity of the “uninvited guests” but the choice of words in the news and the tone of the report suggests they could be Army Chief General Bajwa and ISI Chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum.
Khan on Saturday became the first prime minister in Pakistan’s history to be voted out of power through a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly. It is also reported that advocate Adnan Iqbal had prepared a petition challenging the possible removal of General Bajwa from the post of Army Chief. Had the Defense Ministry issued a notification, the hearing would have been held at night in the Islamabad High Court.
Apart from this, according to the news of ‘The Express Tribune’ newspaper, an emergency petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court on Saturday night requesting to restrain Prime Minister Khan from removing General Bajwa from the post of army chief. BBC News said the petition was prepared but not filed for technical reasons as it did not contain the number of the official notification to remove the army chief, which was ultimately not issued. The Supreme Court had also made preparations for a hearing.
