Islamabad, July 4 (FN Agency) Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa issued fresh directions to all his commanders and key officers, including those of the ISI, to stay away from politics and to not interact with politicians, The News reported on Monday. Bajwa gave out these directions in the wake of Imran Khan-led PTI propaganda against the military establishment alleging certain ISI officials of having been involved in political engineering to manipulate the upcoming by-elections in Punjab to ensure the defeat of the PTI.
Defence sources called these allegations baseless and disclosed that the ISI sector commander, Lahore, who is being maligned by the PTI leaders, is not even in Lahore for over a fortnight in connection with some of his professional work in Islamabad. PTI leader and former health minister Punjab Dr Yasmin Rashid recently named the sector commander and accused him of being involved in politics to engineer the by-elections in Punjab so that the PTI could not win. Before Yasmin Rashid, former foreign minister and deputy chairman PTI Shah Mehmood Qureshi had alleged that some invisible forces are active to influence the by-elections in the province against PTI.
PTI chairman Imran Khan also alleged that some of his candidates have complained to him of receiving telephone calls from unknown numbers. He also said that his party leaders and workers were being pressurised to engineer the by-elections. Defence sources said that the PTI, should instead of making these allegations against the security establishment, should share the evidence, claiming that if an iota of evidence is provided, strict action would be initiated against responsible.