ISLAMABAD: In the backdrop of the change of former prime minister Imran Khan’s government in Pakistan, the top commanders of the Pakistan Army met on Tuesday and said they stood by their well-considered stance to “uphold the constitution and rule of law.”
Khan was ousted on Sunday in a no-trust vote, after he lost majority in Pakistan parliament due to defections by his party’s lawmakers and coalition partners.
He rallied hundreds of thousands of supporters in protest against his ouster Sunday night, painting the new leadership as an “imposed government” and accusing it of colluding with the United States to overthrow him.
Khan’s supporters, who took to the streets carrying party flags on Sunday night, not only criticized the state institutions, but Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa too for Khan’s removal from power.
“The forum expressed complete confidence in leadership’s well considered stance to uphold the constitution and rule of law, at all cost,” the Pakistani military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement after a conference of the army’s formation commanders in Rawalpindi.
They also took notice of what they called a malicious campaign on social media that was aimed at creating differences between the public and the army.
The development came amid reports of social media users, many of whom belonged to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, having been arrested. The cybercrime wing of the civilian-led Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has also reportedly begun a crackdown on online criticism of Pakistan’s powerful military and been investigating some social media accounts.
Asad Umar, a former planning minister in Khan’s cabinet, on Tuesday said a petition challenging the harassment of activists from his party had been finalized and would be filed in courts on Wednesday.
“Petition challenging the harassment of PTI social media activists has been finalized and will be filed in high courts tomorrow morning,” Umar said on Twitter.