PARIS – Several political activists and journalists came to former Pakistan Army Chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s defense for exhibiting composure in the face of heckling in France.
The former four-star general is currently vacationing in Europe, months after he stepped down from the coveted role, and in one such development Gen (r) Bajwa faced harassment and heckling.
General (r) Bajwa was heckled and abused in the French city of Annecy on Sunday when he was sitting with his wife during a family vacation. An Afghani man approached Bajwa, filmed him with a mobile phone, and abused him.
The man’s identity remained under wraps however, he was believed to be an Afghan citizen who harassed former military chief. Gen Bajwa, who maintained his cool, warned the man about potential police action but he refused to step back while hurling abuses.
He slammed the former army chief for rights violations, and aiding the Taliban to takeover Afghanistan.
Extremely unfortunate and condemnable that our respected former COAS Gen r Qamar Bajwa was mistreated like this yesterday on the streets of Annecy, France. Pakistan should raise this issue diplomatically.
If one is on vacation with family, they should be left alone. pic.twitter.com/QYf0uXetgf— Waqas (@worqas) June 5, 2023
The man was apparently brainwashed by social media campaigns aimed to malign Pakistan’s armed forces.
As the disgraceful clip appeared in Twitter’s trending sections, revered journalists and activists condemned the incident.
Social Media Reactions
Is this for real? When this scene happened? Did Gen. Bajwa tried saying that “I am not that Army Chief”? Was he denying his own identity? https://t.co/CaBhM7R5SF
— Moeed Pirzada (@MoeedNj) June 5, 2023
Bajwa is in Switzerland 🇨🇭 This morning plz show some ethics . #bajwa #ISPR #COAS pic.twitter.com/gIKW7dSbDL
— Mati Ur Rehman (@mti_khan) June 5, 2023
