Bajwa says army not destabilizing civilian Govt.

ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday reaffirmed his commitment to democracy and the rule of law and categorically denied the military’s role in destabilizing the civilian government. Speaking at an ‘in-camera session’ of the Senate Committee of the Whole, the army chief, who originally came to brief the legislators on national security issues, deliberated on a wide range of topics from politics and frayed civil-military ties to counterterrorism operations and foreign policy. He was accompanied by Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar, Director General of Military Operations Maj Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza and Military Intelligence Director General Maj Gen Asim Munir. The session continued for nearly four-and-a-half hours. Responding to a question by a ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leg- islator, the army chief defended the brokering of the deal between the government and the organisers of the 22-day sit-in at Faizabad interchange, the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah. He said the situation could have aggravated had the military not played its part. Gen Bajwa, according to the senators who attended the committee’s session, said he firmly believed in democracy and supremacy of the Constitution. However, he did not deny mistakes in the past and, in a reference to generals Zia and Musharraf, reportedly said he could not be held responsible for others. He is reported to have even asked parliament to take the lead in framing foreign and security policies and vowed to implement them. Gen Bajwa was invited by Senate Chairman Mian Rabbani to share military’s position on certain key foreign policy and security issues. The official agenda of the meeting was to have a “briefing by the Chief of Army Staff and Director General Military Operations on the emerging national security paradigm for Pakistan with respect to recent visits and developments”. It was the first time that an army chief appeared before a Senate committee. The last time an army chief came to parliament for a briefing was in 2011 after the US raid on Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad when then army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI director general Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha were called to the joint sitting of parliament.