Former Planning Minister Asad Umar said that the Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum told the National Security Committee (NSC) that he did not see a conspiracy against former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.
“DG did not produce any document in the meeting to support his claim. It was all verbal,” said Umar while speaking on Dunya News programme, ‘On The Front with Kamran Shahid’.
He was responding to a question about DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major-General Babar Iftikhar’s presser denying a conspiracy to oust Khan, saying the army spokesman had only said that the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) and all services chiefs were present in the meeting and he did not say what their opinion was.
The former minister also said the ISPR chief had said the ISI DG told the meeting he did not see a conspiracy and it was true that he had said that. But, he said, he did not present any detailed report or document to verify his findings in the NSC meeting.
He said there had been no document other than the cipher presented in the meeting.
No conspiracy or evidence of any kind against the then government: DG ISPR
The military’s spokesperson on June 14 expressed regret over the propaganda initiated against the army and the military leadership on social media.
DG ISPR once again reiterated that no conspiracy was hatched to oust Khan. He said that the military leadership was present in the NSC meeting and the participants were clearly briefed by the intelligence agencies.
“[They were] briefed that there was no conspiracy or evidence of any kind [against the then government], nothing like that happened. Participants were told in detail that there was no evidence of any conspiracy,” said the DG ISPR.
Did not issue political statements
Later on June 15, Major-Gen Iftikhar said that he “did not issue political statements” when he commented on the outcome of the NSC meeting.
DG ISPR said he did not make any “political statements”, rather it was a clarification on behalf of the services chiefs of the Pakistan armed forces.
DG ISPR further said that the services chiefs had provided detailed input in the meeting and they had presented information based on intelligence reports, not mere speculation or opinion.
“This cannot be considered as someone’s opinion; it was a proper briefing based on intelligence reports,” he said.
