‘Gen (r) Bajwa asked us to support PTI during no-confidence motion’: Moonis Elahi

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Moonis Elahi has revealed that former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa had advised his party to back Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) when the no-confidence motion was moved against former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Elahi further revealed that both PTI and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had made offers to PML-Q. However, Gen (retd) Bajwa asked them to support the Imran Khan-led party. “I had an inclination towards PTI, and everyone knows about it. So I discussed it with my father. And then my father said to side with [PTI]. If Bajwa was so bad, why did he ask us to side with PTI at such a crucial junction,” he asked during an interview with Meher Bokhari.

Moonis then criticized the social media campaign against General Bajwa, stating that, “Certain elements are busy on social media bashing Bajwa sahib without any reason. This is the same Bajwa who changed the course of rivers for the PTI. Back then he [Bajwa] was right, but now he is not. I have a total disagreement with those who are now talking against him.”

“When he was giving you all-out support, he was right,” the PML-Q leader said, wondering if Bajwa how had the retired military head now become a “traitor” to them.

Moonis said that there was no doubt that the former COAS fully supported PTI, but when he withdrew his support, he had become a bad person. “This is a bad example and I have a disagreement with them on it. He [Bajwa] was never against the PTI.”

“Had he [Bajwa] been against them [PTI] at that juncture, he just had to give a signal, and we would have been sitting with them [PDM],” Moonis said.

The PML-Q leader said when the establishment says that they have nothing to do with politics, he believes that because they have not influenced the Punjab government.