The Armed Forces combined-media wing on Sunday termed the recent wave of defamatory statements against the Forces extremely damaging.
The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement issued here said recently there have been intensified and deliberate attempts to drag Pakistan Armed Forces and their leadership into ongoing political discourse in the country.
These attempts are manifest through direct, insinuated or nuanced references to the Armed Forces as well as their senior leadership, made by some political leaders, few journalists and analysts on public forums and various communication platforms including social media. (2/n)
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“These attempts are manifest through direct, insinuated or nuanced references to the Armed Forces as well as their senior leadership, made by some political leaders, few journalists and analysts on public forums and various communication platforms including social media”, it said.
The military’s media wing added that this practice of unsubstantiated, defamatory and provocative statements and remarks was extremely damaging.
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“Pakistan Armed Forces take strong exception to such unlawful and unethical practice and expect all to abide by the law and keep the Armed Forces out of political discourse in the best interest of the country”, it said.
Gen. Bajwa to retire on November 29, 2022
Another important point DG ISPR talked about was COAS Bajwa’s retirement. Important to note, earlier there were various reports regarding alleged rifts between Gen. Bajwa and Imran Khan over the former’s next extension. However, DG ISPR asserted that COAS Bajwa is neither asking for an extension nor will he accept it.
“He [Gen. Bajwa] will retire on time on November 29, 2022,” Gen. Iftikhar said.
Moving on, while responding to a question regarding the United States asking for operational bases in Pakistan and former prime minister Imran Khan’s reply of “absolutely not”, the military spokesperson said, “if bases were asked for, the army would have the same stance”.
“The US did not even ask for bases and there was no mention of it on any level,” Major Gen Babar Iftikhar said.
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Important to note, the previous government had built the narrative that because Imran Khan refused to give bases to the US, the US launched an international conspiracy.
Meanwhile, talking about the former premier’s visit to Russia, Gen. Iftikhar confirmed that all institutions were onboard on it and the previous government took the Army into confidence.
Overall, the DG ISPR condemned the propaganda campaign by some quarters to malign the Pakistan Army. He also asked political leadership to not malign the army chief.
APP with additional input by GVS News Desk