DG ISPR, Major General Babar Iftikhar, on Wednesday confirmed that PML-N leader Muhammad Zubair had met twice with COAS, General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The DG ISPR said DG ISI Faiz Hameed was also present in the meetings.
Talking to media, he said both meetings were held on the request of Muhammad Zubair and he discussed the issues relating to Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz.
Earlier in the day, PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz trashed reports that any representative of PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif had met Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Maryam said that political issues should be discussed in the parliament and political leadership should be allowed to resolve problems of political nature.
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COAS made clear to Nawaz that legal issues to be resolved in courts: DG ISPR
DG ISPR said the first meeting was held in last week of August and second was on September 7. He said in both the meetings Zubair only talked about issues related to Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz.
DG ISPR also said the COAS made it clear to the PML-N leader that legal issues should have been resolved in the courts while for the political issues the appropriate platform was the parliament. The COAS also asked Zubair not to involve the Pakistan Army in such issues.
However, he refused to further divulge into details.
Zubair on meeting COAS
Zubair, while talking to Geo’s Shahzeb Khanzada, said he has had personal ties with COAS Bajwa for more than 40 years. “There’s nothing unusual about the meeting,” he said when asked about the DG ISPR’s remarks.
Despite his close ties with the army chief, Zubair said he never approached Gen Bajwa when the PML-N was facing difficulties.
He also said he never broached issues related to elections or to Nawaz Sharif with the COAS.
“As a friend, I thought I should brief him (Bajwa) on the state of economy of Pakistan and issues of governance. But at the outset of the meeting I told him in clear words that I had not come to seek relief for anyone in my party, neither had I come on the request of anyone — neither Nawaz nor anyone else.”