Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has denied claims that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir gave an interview to journalist Suhail Warraich during his recent visit to Brussels.

 

COAS Munir was in Belgium last week to attend high-level meetings and various events where he addressed a wide range of issues, including Pakistan’s foreign policy, defence strategy and security challenges.

 

In his Aug 16 column for Daily Jang, senior journalist and analyst Suhail Warraich claimed that he had a meeting with the army chief in Brussels and asked the latter several questions, including ones related to politics.

 

With the claim going viral, ISPR has categorically stated that Warraich fabricated the story “for his own benefit”, emphasising that the army chief did not mention the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) or its founder Imran Khan at the event in Brussels where Warraich claimed to have had the two-hour one-on-one meeting with him.

 

The ISPR chief further clarified that Warraich was only one of several participants who attended the ceremony in Belgium’s capital, and called out Daily Jang for publishing an “unverified story”, saying the news platform should have confirmed it before publication.

 

Earlier, Warraich had in his column titled “Field Marshal Sey Pehli Mulaqaat [First Meeting with The Field Marshal]” claimed that during the meeting, he posed tough questions to COAS Munir, which were answered with clarity.

 

The journalist wrote that when he asked the field marshal about rumours suggesting that a plan was underway to remove President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif from their posts, he termed it a complete lie.

 

When pressed that such news stemmed from civil and military agencies, the army chief was quoted as saying that it was impossible. “However, the army chief maintained that elements behind such rumours were those who oppose both the government and the establishment and seek to create political anarchy,” wrote Warraich.

 

To a political question, Warraich quoted the army chief as saying that “political reconciliation is possible through a sincere apology”, adding, “In this context, he recited on stage verses from the Holy Quran regarding the creation of Adam and the role of Satan, along with their translation.”

 

In another column printed August 17 titled “Musafair Banam Qaidi 804 (From a Traveler to Prisoner 804)”, the journalist advised Imran Khan, “If reconciliation is possible through an apology, then immediately doing it and getting out of jail is pragmatism.”