Army, oppn meeting was big mistake: PM
ISLAMABAD — Prime Minister Imran Khan has described as ‘a big mistake’ recent meetings between Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and opposition, though he acknowledged he knew about these meetings “in advance”.
In an interview with ARY News TV channel on Friday evening, the premier asked what had been gained from these meetings.
I think he (General Bajwa) shouldn’t have met them. What did we gain from this?” he said. “Now, they (PML-N leaders) are speaking the language of our enemies.”
When asked about former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who is currently in London for medical treatment, Khan vowed to bring the PML-N supremo back to the country and put him in jail, saying even if he had to travel to the United Kingdom and talk to his British counterpart Boris Johnson for the purpose, he would do that.
“We are in contact with the British authorities to get Sharif deported from the UK,” he said.
The prime minister said instead of seeking extradition which would be a long process, his government was talking to the British authorities to get Sharif deported.
To a question, he recalled how his government had allowed Sharif to travel to London for treatment after six hours of discussion in the cabinet. “I say it with full honesty that I was feeling pity for Nawaz Sharif at that moment and thought he (Sharif)
We will bring him (Sharif) back and throw him in jail. The federal government is in talks with the UK authorities to get Sharif deported from the UK Imran Khan Prime Minister
should travel abroad for treatment,” he remarked.
He said the government wanted Sharif to sign a Rs7 billion surety bond – which was to be presented before the Lahore High Court before allowing him to leave the country, but the court allowed him to go abroad on the guarantee of Shahbaz Sharif.
The prime minister regretted that he should have realised that he (Sharif) was lying as he had done earlier when he reached an agreement with General Pervez Musharraf and went to Saudi Arabia while continuing to deny any deal till the Saudi authorities made the agreement public later.
The prime minister said unfortunately the security establishment, whose product he (Sharif) was, and the judiciary always favoured Sharif. “But now the time has come to bring him back to face imprisonment,” he stressed.
In response to a question about opposition parties’ claim that they would bring down his government by December, Khan said his rivals were aware he would not give them any relief in their corruption cases and that was why they were putting pressure.
To a question about pressure from foreign countries on the issue of Nawaz Sharif, he said India was top among the countries pushing for seeking relief for the PML-N leader. “They (the India media) are celebrating over the situation in Pakistan,” he remarked.
As regards the civil-military relations, Khan said there was a complete harmony in the relations between his government and the military establishment.
Sharif and Asif Zardari had problems with the military leadership because of their corruption, he added.
The prime minister, to another question, said the opposition was not worried about the country or democracy but their worry was that the government had put Pakistan on the right path.