During an informal chat, General Syed Asim Munir tells reporters if received any letter from anyone he will despatch it to PM Says all talk about the letter is just a tactic COAS, top govt officials to review GPI projects today.
ISLAMABAD - Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir said Thursday that Pakistan is moving forward and it has to move forward. During an informal chat with reporters, the Army Chief said that Pakistan is making progress. Also, the Army Chief said he has not received any letter from anyone. However, if it is received, he would despatch it to the Prime Minister.
COAS further said that the country is progressing satisfactorily and Pakistan is on the path of develop-ment.
“Pakistan is moving forward and Pakistan has to move forward,” the Army Chief added.
While interacting with journalists at a luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the honour of Turkish President at the Prime Minister’s House, General Asim Munir said, “I have not received anyone’s letter. Even if I do, I won’t read it. I will forward it to the Prime Minister.” The Army Chief said that all talk about the letter is just a gimmick and he has not received any such letter.
This development comes just a couple of days after Pakistan Tehreeke-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, who has been behind bars since August 2023 in dozens of cases ranging from corruption to terrorism, penned a third open letter to Gen Munir, according to his lawyer.
In the third letter, the jailed PTI founder reiterated election rigging allegations, saying “money launderers” were brought into power via manipulated polls.
“The PTI founder, in his letter to the army chief, has raised the issue of giving preference to the minority over the majority through election fraud,” his lawyer Faisal Chaudhry had said in a statement.
Earlier, Imran said he had penned two “open letters” to the army chief on Feb 3 and Feb 8, “because all democratic avenues had been obstructed”.
In previous letters, Imran pointed out what he claimed was a growing distance between the military and the public. In his letters, the former premier penned six points and urged the army to reevaluate its policy to win over the public with reasons and suggestions proposed by Imran to remedy the situation.
The letters held importance as the former ruling party ended its negotiations with the PML-N-led govern-ment last month, in which the PTI had demanded two things — the formation of judicial commissions on events that transpired on May 9, 2023, and November 24-27 as well as the release of “all political prison-ers”, including Khan.
On the other hand, the government earlier reacted strongly to Imran’s move to write letters to the Army Chief, with PM’s Adviser on Public and Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah saying that they intend to create divisions between the military and the public or sow misunderstandings within the army’s command.
Sanaullah questioned the origin of Khan’s letters from jail, asking: “Where are these letters coming from? If he wants to engage in political struggle, he should do so in the parliament.”
Meanwhile, PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui had said that Khan’s letter to Gen Asim Munir was proof of the former’s “despair and frustration.”
Also, Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir and key government officials will visit various projects of Green Pakistan Initiative (GPI) on Friday (today). During the visit, they will review ongoing agricultural pro-jects and facilities under GPI.
The visit will include the inauguration of GPI’s Smart Agri Farm, Green Agri Mall and Research Facility cen-ters. The participants will be briefed on the key successes related to agricultural development under the GPI. Additionally, there will be an exhibition of agricultural machinery and modern technology used in corpo-rate farming. To promote awareness of agricultural innovation and development, the government officials will also tour model farms.