ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Monday strongly condemned the “vile campaign” against the Pakistan Army, especially Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir abroad and called on overseas Pakistanis to raise their voice against it.
“The campaign against the army chief is intolerable and a continuation of the conspiracy against the institutions,” he said in a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office. He viewed that “toxic politics” was being spread through overseas Pakistanis. The prime minister called on patriotic Pakistanis living abroad to raise their voices against the “foreign-funded campaign” and not become part of such conspiracies.
In his statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also stated that PTI Chairman Imran Khan was dragging the state institutions and their heads into his dirty politics, which, he said, was against the constitution. He directed the interior minister to deal with “iron hands” those behind such anti-institution campaigns within the country. “Strict legal action should be taken against those who instigate chaos, riots and rebellion in Pakistan,” the prime minister stressed adding that the nation stood by its institutions and was united against evildoers.
He further said that the campaign against the army chief, who according to the prime minister, was the “first army chief to be appointed on merit in Pakistan”, could only be the agenda of the country’s enemies.
PM’s statement follows Pakistanis-Americans protest
The statement comes a day after hundreds of Pakistanis Americans gathered outside the White House on Sunday, ignoring freezing cold and biting winds, to demand an end to the government’s actions against PTI chief Imran Khan.
During the demonstration, one of the protesters said that the “establishment must realise its mistake”. Another PTI supporter said: “Now is the time for the establishment to accept civilian supremacy.”
A statement distributed at the US gathering also urged the world community to take action by calling upon the ‘installed regime’ in Pakistan to immediately stop “violations” of fundamental human rights, stop “custodial torture” by security agencies, hold free and fair elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, cease victimisation of political opponents through false charges and arrests, withdraw all politically motivated cases, stop curtailing press freedom, cease subjecting peaceful protestors to police brutality and release all political workers being held in custody on frivolous and trumped-up charges, provide adequate security to Imran Khan, and hold those responsible for the atrocities accountable under the law.
