LAHORE - In its cautious response to the unprecedented presser by the military leadership, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership Thursday maintained that the party chief Imran Khan’s criticism of the army had always been constructive as he did not say anything damaging to the army as an institution. Senior PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Fawad Ch, Shireen Mazari and Hammad Azhar held a press conference here in Lahore to respond to the concerns raised by the DG ISI and DG ISPR in their press briefing early Thursday.
Defending the stance of the party chief, the PTI’s secretary general Asad Umar said it was the constitutional right of Imran Khan to criticize the army to set things right. “Should Imran Khan agree with every decision taken by the army? He asked. He added that there could be disagreement with Imran Khan’s point of view but if the assertions of the PTI chief are taken positively, they could lead to the betterment of the army and the country.
Umar claimed that Imran had never said anything that would weaken the army. Talking about backdoor meetings of Imran Khan with the army chief, Umar said that he had not made any unconstitutional demand in these meetings. He said that the issues discussed in the secret meetings were no secret as the PTI chairman had been raising talking about such matters in public rallies and press conferences. Addressing the media, PTI Vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi responded to Faial Vawda’s presser and military generals’ assertions about the cipher issue, backdoor meetings of the PTI chairman and the alleged political instability caused by the PTI’s confrontational politics.
Former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the military leader’s presser came as a great shock for the PTI. He urged that a relationship of mutual respect [between institutions and politicians] should always be there