For an ISI Chief, who has chosen to deliberately keep a low profile since being appointed to go public on the killing of Pak journalist Arshad Sharif indicates that there is more to the incident than meets the eye. That the presser by Lt. Gen. Nadeem Anjum, Director General, Inter-Services Intelligence (DG, ISI) came after allegations by former Prime Minister Imran Khan that he was one who had asked Arshad to leave Pakistan and that his killing was a targeted one, raises questions which the ISI cannot obviously answer. The ISI press conference, therefore, served the twin purposes of attacking former Prime Minister Imran Khan and deflecting attention on the Arshad Sharif targeted killing in Kenya. The chosen route was the revelation that former Prime Minister had offered Gen. Bajwa, the Army Chief an ‘indefinite extension’ in March 2021, but it was refused!
At the outset, it is important to note that the battle between Imran Khan and the establishment has come to a head with the Arshad Sharif murder. Thus far, the deep state has tried to stifle Imran Khan with court cases and other charges. The former Prime Minister has been lucky so far, in that the Courts have given him enough latitude to initiate the Long March to Islamabad. The PTI Chairman in an interview with Daily Times asserted (26 October 2022) that no one has dared asked him why he advised Arshad Sharif to leave the motherland as early as possible. Responding to ruckus over who had asked the hardcore critic to flee Pakistan, Imran Khan had exclaimed, “Yes, it was me!”Imran Khan wondered why those taking great interest in the naming game hesitated in finding answers about the life-threatening circumstances braved by a “patriot who never compromised his conscience.”
With stories doing the rounds that an ISI assassination squad bumped off Arshad Sharif in Kenya, the ISI chief was forced to take public stage to explain the position of the Agency. That is the reason for both Lt. Gen. Babar Iftikhar, DG, ISPR and Lt. Gen. Nadeem Anjum, DG, ISI to face the media together, the only difference was that Anjum was wearing a suit!At the outset of the news conference (27 October 2022), the ISPR chief Lt. Gen. Babar questioned the events leading to senior journalist Arshad Sharif’s murder in Kenya and the narrative that followed the “unfortunate incident”. He said,“It is necessary to determine the factors through which a particular narrative was formed and the people were misled.” He regretted that the Army Chief was also targeted and faced criticism.“An attempt was made to create a divide in the society,” Lt-Gen Babar said. What he really meant was an attempt to divide the Army!
DG ISPR pointed out that Arshad Sharif had met the then Prime Minister Imran Khan several times and conducted interviews on the diplomatic cipher issue. Referring to the comments made by the slain journalist earlier against the institution, the military spokesperson clarified that the Army “did not have any negative sentiments about him [Arshad] and there are no such feelings now”. Obviously, because Arshad can no longer talk! Pertinently, as Ayesha Siddiqa notes (The Print, 28 October 2022) the deceased journalist was “part of the extended military fraternity who felt sufficiently confident to break away from the pack over the Imran Khan affair. He was more than just a military officer’s son and brother but someone close to the army and its agencies. Anjum’s organisation never forgives its own if they go astray.”
“On August 10, he [Arshad] left Peshawar airport through PK-637 for Dubai and during his departure, the authorities did not try to stop Arshad Sharif,” he said, adding that the journalist was provided “complete protocol” by the KPK Government and, he remained in the UAE “until he held a valid visa”. The military spokesperson reiterated that the journalist was not “forced” to leave Dubai at the governmental level and asked who could have urged Arshad to leave the country.
The ISPR press briefing was meant to tell the Army’s version on what happened to Arshad Sharif, which was done alright, but the DG ISI Gen. Anjum decided to use the opportunity to target former PM Imran Khan. Gen. Anjum chose the platform to claim that the incumbent Army chief General Bajwa was offered an ‘indefinite extension’ in March 2021 by Imran Khan. Gen Nadeem claimed that Imran Khan, to save his government, had offered General Bajwa continuance as Army chief for an indefinite period, which Gen Bajwa refused. Gen Nadeem says Imran’s outburst is because the COAS refused to do “unconstitutional act”.
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan had denied (13 September 2022) talking about granting an extension to Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, saying he had just proposed to defer the appointment of the new army chief till elections. A day earlier, Khan had told a TV channel in an interview that the tenure of the Army chief should be extended until his successor is appointed by the new government after elections. “I never talked about the extension of the army chief’s tenure. I just proposed to defer the appointment of the army chief till elections,” Khan told reporters in Islamabad.
There is another reason why the DG, ISI had to go public. This is because of the divide within the military establishment is intense on support to former PM Imran Khan. It is well known that Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, former DG, ISI and currently Corps Commander is a supporter of Imran Khan. There are other Corps Commanders also who are sympathetic to Imran Khan, but not as openly as Gen. Hammed, making the Army vulnerable to disunity, something Gen. Bajwa does not want during his tenure as Chief.
The DG, ISI chief opened his remarks by stating, “…..I am not here for myself but for my institution, whose soldiers and officers sacrifice their lives every day for this country. Especially, I have come here for my agency, whose officers’ and agents all over the world protect this country 24 hours a day.” The real reason for the presser thus becomes clear in that Gen. Anjum was told to present himself before the media to deflect attention from charges that the Army was responsible for the killing of Arshad Sharif.
“I cannot remain silent when they are made targets of uncalled for criticism on the basis of lies, then as the leader of this institution, I cannot remain silent. You should know that this narrative has been 100 per cent constructed on the basis of lies,” ISI chief told reporters. Gen. Anjum then attempted to shift the narrative to Imran Khan by referring to his having termed the Army Chief as a “Mir Jaffar, Mir Sadiq, traitor, neutral and an animal.” Gen. Anjum said Imran Khan did so “….because he [army chief], his institution, refused to do something unconstitutional and unlawful.”
He said that last year, the establishment decided to confine itself to its constitutional role. “This was not just a decision on part of the COAS,” he said. Gen Nadeem revealed that in March 2021, the Army Chief was offered an indefinite extension to his tenure “in front of me”. He also posed a question: “If you think he is a traitor, then why did you meet him in secret?” He added, “It cannot be that you meet the chief in the darkness of the night and express your constitutional and unconstitutional desires, you can express them, that’s fine, but don’t then go out during the day and call him a traitor.”
Why did the ISI call for the press conference in the first place? Clearly, to defend itself! The way the media briefing was structured in itself provided evidence of this. Ayesha Siddiqa, the noted Pakistani scholar (The Print, 28 October 2022) states the press briefing was “carefully choreographed” and only those questions that were critical of Imran Khan were answered. Even though a large group of journalists were invited, major media outlets like Dawn, The News and The Express Tribune were excluded. Further, if the media briefing was supposed to present a united Army against Imran Khan, it clearly failed in that objective because the Army continues to be divided on how to deal with Imran Khan. If the Army had been united, Imran Khan would be in oblivion now!
Source: The Geneva Daily
