Campaign against Imran: Bajwa and Faiz reject Fazal's claim No-confidence motion launched at their behest

Refuting Fazl's claim, sources said the JUIF chief should first get his facts straight as General Faiz had left the ISI a few months before the no-confidence motion.

ISLAMABAD: Sources close to former Army Chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa and former DGISI Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed on Thursday strongly criticized the statement of JUI(F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Denied that a no-confidence motion was presented against the Imran Khan government. At the behest of Bajwa

Maulana gave an interview to a TV channel on the first day and said that both Bajwa and Faiz were busy with the then opposition to make the no-trust movement a success.

Refuting Maulana Fazal's claim, sources close to the former army chief and ex-spy said that the JUIF chief should first get his facts straight as General Faiz had left the ISI a few months before the no-confidence motion. was given

"Maulana Sahib is forgetting that General Faiz was the Corps Commander Peshawar when the no-confidence motion was moved against Imran Khan," a source said, adding that General Faiz left Islamabad in November 2021.

According to sources close to General Bajwa, the former army chief met Maulana only twice. Maulana first met the then Army Chief at his official residence during the long march against Imran Khan's government. The said meeting is said to have been unpleasant. Second, on 26 March 2022, General Bajwa and another senior general met the then opposition leaders including Shahbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Shah Zain Bugti, Akhtar Mengal and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

According to sources, the two top generals had met the opposition leaders on the instructions of the then Prime Minister Imran Khan, who wanted to withdraw the no-confidence motion against them.

Sources close to Bajwa said the two generals had pressured opposition leaders to allow Imran Khan's government to complete its term. Sources said that when the opposition leaders now expressed their willingness to resign, they were told to withdraw the no-confidence motion and instead Imran Khan could announce elections.

These generals are said to have been invited by Imran Khan to discuss options to protect his government from a no-confidence motion. Various options were discussed in the meeting with the Prime Minister in the presence of some of his key ministers. In the same meeting, the generals were asked to approach the opposition to save the government from no confidence.

Sources quoted General Bajwa as saying that the former army chief is willing to deny Maulana's sworn statement and expects the same from Maulana that he will come to the truth.

Yesterday, JUIF chief Fazlur Rehman pointed the finger at General Bajwa and Lt General Faiz Hameed for toppling the PTI government through a no-confidence motion.

Speaking on a TV programme, Fazal said that leaders of all parties, including PPP and PMLN, were called in the presence of General Bajwa and Faiz Hameed, who told them how to proceed with the no-confidence motion. . Don't just name PPP and PMLN. All parties are there,” he said.

He replied 'yes' when the host asked if Bajwa and Faiz led the move and the parties against Imran just sealed their decision. He said that it was the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) that initially launched a no-confidence motion against Imran when Faiz Hameed himself came to meet him.

"Faiz Hameed told me to work within the system and nothing will be done outside the system but I refused," claimed Fazal.

The JUI(F) chief replied in the affirmative when the host asked if Faiz Hameed was referring to the no-confidence motion. Fazl said that in the first instance, he refused but when MQM, BAP and other groups started joining PPP and PMLN in a no-confidence motion, he was forced to do so. Had to agree. He said that if I had refused after that, I could have been accused of saving Imran Khan's government.

Fazl said that he personally is not in favor of no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government but he wants a motion against the current government.

The JUI-F chief said that he sacrificed his stand on the no-confidence motion only to keep the then opposition parties united.

Everyone knows that I used to express my views in meetings of opposition parties.

Fazal said that apparently it was the PML-N that took advantage of the rigged elections in which mandates were stolen across the country.

In response to a question, he said that there is an impression that Nawaz Sharif has been given a seat in the National Assembly in Lahore.

"Now, it is up to them to show magnanimity and decide to hold the seat or not," he said.

Fazl said that when he came to meet him, he advised Shehbaz Sharif to sit on the opposition benches, adding that "he left without giving any answer".

Fazal, however, clarified that the meeting with the military establishment is not wrong because they are not India's generals, but added that the problem is that they (the generals) are strict on their terms. He said that we should also take our strong stand and tell them that they are wrong.

Talking about the action plan, Fazal said that he will come to the streets to record a peaceful protest. He further said that we will continue our struggle and protest until the establishment stays away from politics.

Fazal said he could not immediately say for sure about his future relationship with the PTI because of the history of strained relationship with the PTI leadership. "Bridging the gap is not that easy but we can bridge the differences through dialogue," he said, adding that it remains to be seen whether the PTI wants JUIF's support against rigging. or government. of the.

At the same time, the JUIF leader said that we also think that they were rigged to benefit him.

The JUIF chief said that parliament and assemblies would have no future and there would be economic and political instability everywhere. He said that various political parties are protesting across the country and we will do the same after consulting the general councils of the party.

When asked how Shahbaz Sharif was selected as the prime ministerial candidate, the JUIF chief said that he was not involved in the consultation, he had taken the stand that his members were in parliament with reservations. I will sit.

Meanwhile, on the instructions of Imran regarding the books, the PTI delegation met Fazal at his residence late on Thursday night.

"We agreed that the elections were rigged on a large scale and the results were manipulated," Barrister Saif told reporters after the meeting. He added that he would proceed with the consultation. The meeting came as a surprise to the nation as both Imran and Fazal used to make serious accusations against each other.

It is on record that Fazal accused Imran on several occasions of pushing the agenda of the Jewish lobby. Sources say that Imran gave the green signal to the leaders of his party to contact other parties including JUI-F on the rigging issue.

The PTI delegation included Asad Qaiser, Aamir Dogar, Umeer Niazi, Barrister Saif and Fazal Mohammad Khan. Senator Talha Mehmood, Engineer Ziaur Rehman, Aslam Ghori, Sahibzada Asjad Mehmood, Hafiz Hamdullah and Mufti Roozi Khan were present on behalf of JUI(F).

Hafiz Hamdullah of JUIF told reporters that Imran Khan has sent his party's delegation to meet Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other leaders.

"He formally approached the JUI-F for a meeting," he said.

He said that both the parties discussed the election results and clearly rejected the results.

He said that in the presence of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, both parties agreed that the 2024 elections were not fair or transparent.

Barrister Saif told reporters that PTI has started consultations with all political parties on the issue of rigged elections.

He said that we will protest on February 17 and will continue the struggle till we get our rightful mandate.

Supporting Fazal's allegations against General Bajwa and Faiz Hameed, JUI-F leader Rashid Soomro said that Fazal was the president of PDM but it was not formed at the time of no-confidence.

He was talking to Geo Television program Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada.

Asked if Fazal had also exposed himself as part of the no-confidence motion against Imran, Soomro said the beneficiaries of the no-confidence motion were now 'puppets' and those opposing the move. Struggling to get back the stolen mandate.

“It should be on record that the PDM was formed after the rigging of the 2018 elections and not when the no-confidence motion was being planned,” he added.

Meanwhile, PMLN and PPP reacted to Fazal's claims. Muslim League (N) spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb said on Thursday that she did not see anything like the orders of former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa behind the dismissal of PTI founder Imran Khan.

Maryam, who was a key figure in the PDM-led government, said the multi-party coalition had moved a no-confidence motion against Imran in a fully constitutional manner.

He said in the Geo News show "Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Ke Saath" that he himself can explain Maulana Fazlur Rehman's statement.

Maryam further said that she can comment on this matter on behalf of PML-N tomorrow.

She further said that I do not see any alliance of Maulana [Fazal], I know with PTI.

PPP Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi said that PTI and JUIF have buried their respective narratives, let's see when PTI founder Imran Khan and Maulana Fazlur Rehman apologize to each other.

"It is the law of nature that everything returns to its origin," he said in response to Fazal's interview with a private TV channel and the PTI-JUI-F meeting.

He said that Fazlur Rehman lost in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but noise is being made in Sindh.

He said that Fazlur Rehman should tell the nation on whose request the sit-in was started and on whose order it ended.

Kundi said that according to Fazlur Rehman, the no-confidence motion against the PTI government was brought at the behest of the generals, but Maulana also told who benefited the most after the end of the government. He said that also tell the truth about who committed corruption in which department and looted state resources.

Faisal Karim Kundi said that if Maulana's son had won from Tank, he would have said let the system run. We will be allies of the government. Since his son is not in the assembly yet, Maulana is getting angry,” he said.