Army rejects claims about Gen Bajwa, family’s properties

PAKISTAN

ASSETS WORTH $56.6MN

ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Army on Sunday rejected media reports that the outgoing chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s family members and relatives became billionaires during his six-year tenure, terming them as “misleading” and based on “blatant lies and malice”.

Gen Bajwa, 61, is scheduled to retire on Tuesday.

According to the report published by the Factfocus website, the alleged tax records of Gen Bajwa’s family, the current market value of the known assets and business of the army chief, both within and outside Pakistan, amounted to Rs 12.7 billion ($56.6 million).

Pakistan Army finally broke its silence on Sunday, days after the Shehbaz Sharif-led government launched a probe and suspended two officers from service for their involvement in leaking the tax records of Gen Bajwa and his family members.

Pakistan Army’s media wing, Inter-services Public Relations, said misleading data regarding the assets of Army chief Gen Bajwa and his family were shared on social media, and the same assumption-based data was presented in an exaggerated manner on different platforms.

Meanwhile, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza on Sunday took charge as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) in Rawalpindi.

Also, Pakistan authorities on Sunday arrested a Senator of Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-insaf party for allegedly using abusive and threatening language against senior military officials. Azam Swati was taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency for the second time in less than two months for tweets against army officials.