Staff Reporter
Islamabad
After the Supreme Court allowed Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to stay in his office for another six
months, Prime Minister Imran Khan reacted to the top court’s judgement, calling it “a great
disappointment to those who expected the country to be destabilised by a clash of institutions”.
Taking to Twitter, he said the fact that a clash of institutions was averted “must be of special
disappointment to our external enemies and mafias within – Mafias who have stashed their loot abroad and
seek to protect this loot by destabilising the country”.
In another tweet, Prime Minister Imran said 23 years ago, the PTI was the first political party to
advocate for an independent judiciary and the rule of law. In addition, he said the PTI was at the
forefront of the Movement for Independence of the Judiciary in 2007 and he was “jailed for it”.
“Also, for the record, I have the greatest respect for CJ [Chief Justice Asif Saeed] Khosa, one of the
greatest Jurists produced by Pakistan,” the prime minister wrote. The prime minister expressed similar
sentiments while addressing a conference of Pakistani envoys to African countries later in the day,
saying attempts were made to “destabilise the country” in recent days first through the JUI-F-led dharna
and later through the case regarding the army chief’s tenure in the apex court.
He said these elements with their attempts to destabilise the country had put the issue of suppression
in occupied Kashmir, which the government had been raising, “on the backburner”. As a result, the
“racist” BJP government of India found a reason to rejoice the most, he added.
“Pakistan’s democracy is maturing […] Institutions will never clash amongst each other now. All
institutions have started to operate within their boundaries,” the premier said.
He said his party had campaigned for an independent judiciary from the very beginning. “We will always
strengthen our institutions and the judiciary,” Prime Minister Imran stressed, adding that the current
harmony between the institutions is “unprecedented”. The Supreme Court had earlier today in its short
order announced that Gen Bajwa will remain the Chief of Army Staff for another six months, during which
the parliament will legislate on the extension/reappointment of an army chief.
