DM Monitoring
ISLAMABAD: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Asif Ghafoor on Wednesday said that the Pakistan Army has nothing to do with political activities.
He said this in response to allegations levelled by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman regarding the military’s involvement in politics. The spokesperson for Pakistan’s military said that the army’s primary focus is ensuring national security and they did whatever they did to ensure the safety of the protesters.
Talking about military’s deployment during the general elections, he said that the army acts on government’s directives and is only there for security reasons.
On November 2, Major General Ghafoor had categorically stated that they would not allow any effort to harm to the national stability and support the government within the ambit of the constitution.
Talking to a private news channel, he had said that Pakistan Army is a national and impartial institution, which believes in the supremacy of the constitution and law and always supports democratically elected government, not any single party. Regarding the opposition parties’ complaints about the transparency of polls, he had said that army fulfilled its legal and constitutional responsibility in elections.
The ISPR DG had said the government and opposition negotiation committees are working in a better coordination and we hope this process will move on in a better way.
Major General Ghafoor had said that a year has elapsed now after the government’s formation and the issues are not resolved on streets merely through accusations.
He had said that the opposition has the option to avail their constitutional right and take up their allegations to the relevant institutions instead of accusing the army on roads. He had added that democratic problems must be resolved democratically.
Replying to a question, the ISPR DG had said that during the last two decades, the country has gone through very difficult circumstances fighting terrorism by rendering numerous sacrifices.
He had said that the people and the armed forces of Pakistan had fought against the terrorism which no other could do. He had added that tension persists on the Line of Control (LoC) and Indian repression is going on in occupied Kashmir.
He further said that around 100,000 troops have been deployed on the eastern border and nearly 200,000 on the western border for defence of the motherland.
The army spokesperson said that in such circumstances, chaos and unrest in the country would not be in the national interest.
