Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the Pakistan Army General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence Chief Faiz Hameed met the parliamentary leadership in Islamabad days before an opposition-led All Parties Conference (APC) castigated the present government over a host of issues, reported Geo News.
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According to sources, the senior military leadership stressed upon decreased involvement in the country’s political affairs. It has emerged that senior military leadership had asked the opposition to refrain from dragging the army into politics.
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They have also denied taking up the task of arranging elections in Gilgit-Baltistan, soon to be the fifth province of Pakistan, the sources added. PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, PML- N chief Shehbaz Sharif, as well as other senior political leaders were present in the meeting.
Nawaz holds people have been stripped of their democratic rights
The APC on Sunday called for the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan and announced an official alliance – the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – which will embark on a country-wide protest against the current government, reported Express Tribune.
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Opposition parties have put forth their demands in a 26 point resolution and seven point action plan issued after the APC which entail free, fair, and transparent elections without any involvement of the armed forces.
Sheikh Rashid: zero chances of Nawaz Sharif returning to Pakistan
Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Saturday called the opposition’s All Parties Conference (APC) a failure and said that former premier Nawaz Sharif closed all options for return to Pakistan after his address in the moot.
While talking to a Geo News Anchor in programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, Rashid questioned Nawaz Sharif’s credibility while he spoke out against the establishment, even though the fact remains that he was brought into power by former military ruler Zia Ul Haq, and also added “PML-N supremo will now take political asylum in the UK”.
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Rashid stated that Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s call for resignations from assemblies was muted by the APC. “The expressions on the faces of Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Shehbaz Sharif at the APC were worth watching,” he said.
The federal minister was of the opinion that the army has no interest in administrative matters and claimed that COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa has clarified to the political leaders to arrange the Gilgit-Baltistan elections by themselves as the military is not interested in such tasks.
GVS News Desk with additional input by other sources