ISLAMABAD: Major General Babar Iftikhar, the spokesperson for the Pakistan Army, on Monday rejected rumours that the army was in contact through “backdoor channels” with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an opposition alliance.
The alliance of 11 major opposition parties has been holding mammoth rallies since its inception last September to seek Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ouster and press the military to stop interfering in politics, which the army denies.
"The people who are making speculations, I requested them previously as well [and] I will tell them again: do not drag army into politics," the military spokesman said while talking to a private Pakistani news channel, adding that the army had its “hands full” dealing with internal and external threats to the country.
"I would again request: please don't drag the institution into this dialogue," Iftikhar said.
He said a consignment of coronavirus vaccines donated to the Pakistan army by the Chinese military would be absorbed into the ongoing national vaccination drive for Pakistan's frontline workers, whom he described as the "real heroes" of the nation's fight against the pandemic.
Pakistan launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive with China’s Sinopharm vaccine last week, after receiving half a million jabs as a "gift" from China. It aims to inoculate 70 million out of its 100 million eligible population by the year-end.
In the first phase of the vaccination drive, the government plans to vaccinate 0.5 million healthcare workers in the next three weeks, with 578 adult vaccine centers established across the country with a daily capacity to handle 40,000 people.
In the next phase, 17 million of the "most vulnerable” people, including 9.5 million above 65 years of age, would be given shots, the government's health advisor has said.
