Elahi echoes son Moonis’ remarks
Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi confirming his son Moonoi’s remarks, on Sunday, said that former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa had nudged the PML-Q to support the PTI and former prime minister Imran Khan.
In an interview with a private TV programme, Elahi said he had received offers from both the PTI camp and the then-opposition for the PML-Q’s support. The chief minister said that his son Moonis Elahi had also expressed a desire to side with the PTI. “God changed our path in the last moments and sent Bajwa sahab to show us the way. When I expressed my concerns about the Sharifs and that I don’t trust them then Bajwa sahab said, ‘You should proceed carefully and the path going towards Imran is better for you and your friends,’” CM Elahi said without specifying if his interaction with the former COAS occurred prior to the no confidence move against Imran or at the time of the Punjab chief minister elections.
Similarly, Moonis had claimed during a TV programme on Thursday night that Gen Bajwa advised his party to support the PTI in a weeks-long tussle that ended with Imran’s ouster as the prime minister through a no-confidence vote in April.
Moonis had continued, “I then had a discussion with walid sahib (his father) and walid sahib had a talk with them (an apparent reference to the military establishment).
“They said, ‘It is my wish that you side with them (PTI)’. Had that man (Gen Bajwa) been bad, why would he have asked us to side with them at that critical juncture … Had that man been that bad and against Khan sahib and the PTI, […] he only had to give a signal at that juncture and we would have gone the other way.
“This is why I don’t even buy this story that he is against [the PTI],” he had added.
