Journalist Shahid Maitla has released the second part of his interaction with former Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
According to the journalist, the ex-army chief said that he went to meet Shehbaz Sharif after the Vote of No Confidence was successful against Imran Khan.
“When I asked Shehbaz Sharif about his plan regarding the government, he said that they will announce the elections in four to six weeks after passing two or three laws,” General Bajwa was quoted as saying by Shahid Maitla.
The former army chief added that he himself wanted elections to be held so that the new government makes decisions with a fresh mandate.
However, both Asif Ali Zardari and Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman wanted the government to complete its one and half year tenure.
Qamar Javed Bajwa claimed that General (r) Faiz wanted him to hold elections before retirement as well as to meet Imran Khan.
“On May 9th, Shehbaz Sharif and Malik Ahmed Khan came to my house and said that they have decided to hold elections. Malik Ahmed said that he has talked to the Election Commission, and the commission will complete the census and constituency delimitation by August 5th,” Bajwa told the journalist.
He continued, “the government has decided that if they do not present the budget, then elections will be held on September 5th, and if they have to present the budget, then we are ready to hold elections on October 5th.”
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was informed about the decision and was asked to call off their long march. Afterwards, Shehbaz Sharif travelled to London
“On May 19th, Malik Ahmed Khan came to my house again and informed me that Nawaz Sharif has decided that we are going to hold elections, and tomorrow Shahbaz Sharif will resign. Irfan Siddiqui had written a speech for him as well,” said the former army chief.
General (r) Bajwa went on to add that Malik Ahmed Khan was still there when DG ISI came and asked as to who will negotiate with IMF on May 25 if Shehbaz resigns tomorrow.
He advised to ask the government to postpone the resignation for 10 days as it will allow them time to constitute the caretaker set up as well as the negotiations with IMF will take place.
However, according to Qamar Bajwa, Malik Ahmed Khan said that Nawaz Sharif has made the decision and it would be better if him [General Bajwa] or DG ISI talk to him regarding this.
The PML N leadership agreed but Imran Khan wanted them to announce the election date immediately, which complicated things.
The PTI Chief, despite requests to postpone his long march, announced his protest. Later, the PML N leadership went to meet General (r) Qamar Javed Bajwa and told him that they will confront Imran Khan.
This story was originally published by Pakistan24.