A report in The News has rebutted claims regarding Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and former Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general Major General Asif Ghafoor meeting the Sharif family in London, which had earlier led to intense speculations and discussion about the ongoing political situation as well as the future of the same back in Pakistan.
A few Twitter accounts had claimed that the army chief and Maj Gen Ghafoor were in London, holding important meetings.
The tweets had spread like wildfire as they also claimed that the military leadership was staying in a hotel on a walking distance from Avenfield Flats — the London residence of former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif and his sons Hasan and Hussain Nawaz.
The report quoted both official and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) sources as saying that the tweets were factually wrong as neither the COAS nor the former ISPR chief was in London. Both Gen Bajwa and Maj Gen Ghafoor have not been in London for several months, in fact, the latter was in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah around the time of speculation, it added.
Sources said that a few serving and retired military officers were in London to take part in a few seminars on security on South Asian by a leading think-tank in London and for a few official meetings, but none of the military leaders, as claimed, were in London.
The delegation stayed in London for a week and then left for Pakistan on the weekend. A PML-N source termed it unfortunate that social media was used to spread news as if the military leadership was engaged in discussions with Nawaz or his brother and PML-N chief Shehbaz Sharif, both of whom are in London.
The PML-N source further told the English daily that Nawaz was in London for medical treatment and was not holding any talks with anyone. Shehbaz, on the other hand, has reportedly not held any meeting with anyone on Pakistani politics.
