ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday he was in contact with President Arif Alvi who would consult him over the appointment of the new army chief while saying that everything related to the matter would happen within the ambit of law and constitution.

Pakistan’s outgoing top army general Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was appointed in 2016, is due to retire on November 29 after finishing his second three-year term in the position.

The Prime Minister’s Office said earlier in the day it had received the names of the top contenders for the post from the country’s defense ministry which would be finalized by PM Shehbaz Sharif and sent to the president for approval.

Khan, who was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in April after losing parliamentary majority, has frequently expressed concern that the government wanted to bring an army chief of its own choice to save its leaders from corruption cases.

Amid the ongoing political turmoil in the country, some sections of the media have also speculated how the situation would turn out if the president, who belongs to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, delayed the approval procedure or sent the name of the final candidate back to the PM Office.

“I am in touch with the president and he will discuss everything with me,” Khan told ARY News in an interview.

“I don’t know who they are going to appoint as the army chief,” he continued. “But let me say this that [President] Arif Alvi and I have decided to stay within the legal ambit over the issue. We will abide by law and the constitution.”

Khan criticized PM Sharif for holding political consultations over the matter with his self-exiled elder brother and three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif who, he maintained, was not “qualified” to take a decision after being convicted from an accountability court in a corruption reference.

The elder Sharif flew out of the country on medical bail in November 2019 and did not return. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party calls the charges against him politically motivated.

“Whatever he is going to decide will not be for the betterment of Pakistan,” Khan said. “He has never made an appointment while keeping that objective in mind.”

“[Nawaz Sharif] wants to bring his own man who will end Imran Khan and the PTI,” he continued.