Imran Khan, a former prime minister, has demanded that President Arif Alvi begin an investigation into the alleged constitutional and oath violations of former COAS General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.
“Some very disturbing information has now come into the public domain whereby it is clear that Gen retd Bajwa as COAS violated his oath of the office repeatedly,” the PTI chief stated in a letter written to the president, shared publicly on the party’s official social media channels today.
Imran Khan mentioned that the former army chief committed “violations” and requested Arif Alvi “as supreme commander of the armed forces to institute an immediate inquiry” against him.
The PTI chairman made reference to a newspaper editorial that appeared earlier this month and included startling revelations regarding Imran Khan’s government that were attributed to General (retd) Bajwa.
The question that arises, Khan continued, is who gave him the authority to decide that an elected prime minister was allegedly a danger to the country. “He has admitted to a journalist that ‘we’ (and it would be critical to ascertain from him who was the ‘we’ in reference to) considered Imran Khan dangerous to the country if he continued to stay in power,” Khan said.
The PTI chairman made the argument that only the electorate, through elections, has the power to select a candidate for prime minister.
“Taking such a right on himself is in clear violation of his oath as given in Third Schedule Article 244 of the Constitution,” he alleged.
Referring to Shaukat Tarin’s corruption case, Bajwa claimed that the former finance minister contacted the spymaster at the time, General (retd) Faiz Hamid, to resolve the issue.
“Regardless of the merits of his claims in this case, he has also admitted he managed to get the NAB case against Shaukat Tarin dismissed revealing that NAB was under his control — again a clear violation of the Constitutional oath because the army itself is a department under the Ministry of Defence and civilian official autonomous institutions do not come military control,” Khan wrote.
The former prime minister, while quoting another journalist, said that Gen (retd) Bajwa had “tapes of then PM Imran Khan’s conversations with him”.
The PTI chief wrote that this is a “serious violation” again of the former army chief’s oath and a “violation” of fundamental human rights.
“The question is why and under what authorization was Gen Bajwa recording confidential conversations?”
Gen. (Ret.) Bajwa allegedly violated his oath by publicly criticizing the then-position governments to maintain neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to Imran Khan.
“He did this at an international conference in Islamabad on 2 April 2022 — the Islamabad Security Conference. I would like to point out that the govt policy was arrived at after developing a consensus of all stakeholders including MOFA and retired diplomats who had the relevant experience and were area specialists,” he wrote.
“I would also point out that Chapter II of the Constitution describes the mandate of the Armed Forces and specifically refers to Articles 243 and 244. Therefore it is your Constitutional duty as President and as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces to take immediate action and institute an inquiry so as to establish whether such grave violations of the Constitution and oath of Office under the Constitution have taken place.”
