ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s army neither supports any particular political party or ideology nor does it wish to divert its focus from the country’s security by engaging in “useless discussions,” its spokesman said on Tuesday, amid allegations of meddling in the country’s politics.
Since the ouster of ex-prime minister Imran Khan in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April last year, the Pakistani military establishment, particularly former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has been widely called out by Khan and his supporters for meddling in political affairs of the country.
In his farewell speech last year, General Bajwa dismissed Khan’s allegations against him as “fake and false,” but admitted it was the military’s “illegal” and “unconstitutional” interference in politics in the past that had invited criticism. He stressed the army would no longer play any role in national politics moving forward.
Asked about the army’s political role at a press conference on Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the new director-general of the military’s media wing, reiterated that Pakistan’s army respected all political parties and it did not support any particular ideology.
“All political parties are respectable to us because the army of Pakistan is a national army,” Maj. Gen. Chaudhry said. “We do not support any particular political party or ideology”.
While the constitution of Pakistan granted freedom of expression to every citizen, the same constitution defined some “limits” too, the military spokesman said, when asked about criticism of the army on social media platforms lately.
“And Pakistan Army also has its rules, training, and discipline in place, which do not allow us to readily respond to all the allegations hurled against the establishment,” he said.
The office of the army chief is arguably the most powerful position in Pakistan, with the army having ruled the South Asian country for almost half of its 75-year history either through coups or as an invisible guiding hand in politics.
Khan’s criticism sparked a public debate about the role of the military in Pakistani politics, particularly resonating with young, social-media-savvy Pakistanis, who came out in fierce condemnation of what they deemed military’s meddling in politics.
Maj. Gen. Chaudhary stressed the army did not want to engage in “useless discussions” that would divert its attention from security operations, saying whatever was being posted online about the Pakistani forces was “unconstitutional.”
“Pakistan Army cannot be pressurized through coercion and deception,” he added.
The military spokesman also urged the media and the public to refrain from relying on unverified information about the army on social media and only refer to authentic accounts for news and information.
