Former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan responded to Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major-General Babar Iftikhar’s statement on the alleged foreign conspiracy and asked if he would decide whether the conspiracy was hatched or not.
“Will DG ISPR decide if there was any conspiracy or not? He can only explain his point of view but can’t decide himself. Therefore, if you want to probe the conspiracy, ask the chief justice of Pakistan to probe and decide,” he said.
Khan said that when he was PM, he had decided to form a commission to probe the conspiracy behind the no-trust motion, but proper investigation was not done.
“Now there is only one way: the chief justice of Pakistan should conduct an open hearing to probe the ‘Lettergate’ conspiracy,” he added.
Did not make any political statements, but clarified on behalf of the services chiefs of the Pakistan armed forces: DG ISPR
Major-General Babar Iftikhar said that he “did not issue political statements” when he commented on the outcome of the National Security Committee (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.
He also responded to the claims of former Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed that “none of the services chiefs in the NSC meeting said that there was a conspiracy”.
“He was in a way trying to convey that he was speaking on their behalf,” the DG ISPR said, stating that he was the spokesperson of the services chiefs, not Sheikh Rasheed.
“I am the spokesperson of the services chiefs. If someone speaks something about the services chiefs, then I will have to clarify it — there is nothing political about this,” he said.
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.
The military was ready to support the investigation in any way possible
On the demands of the formation of a judicial commission to probe the matter, the DG ISPR said the military was ready to support the investigation in any way possible.
“By all means, judicial commission or whatever forum the government of the day decides […] the institution will provide complete assistance,” the military’s spokesperson said.
Intelligence agencies clarified in NSC meeting that there was no conspiracy against Khan: DG ISPR
DG ISPR while talking to a private news channel said 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.
