Pak minister rejects reports about army chief asking PM Imran Khan to resign

Islamabad, Mar 30 (PTI) Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday rejected reports about the army chief asking Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign.

Chaudhry briefly chatted with the media in Islamabad where he was asked about reports regarding a meeting between Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Prime Minister Khan. “Neither has the army chief asked for his resignation, nor will he resign,” the minister said, confirming the meeting between General Bajwa and PM Khan but without giving any details of the key meeting.

The powerful army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 73 plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy. Chaudhry compared the current political situation and apparent weakness of the prime minister with the position of the Pakistan cricket team during the 1992 Cricket World Cup. “It is like the 1992 World Cup. Apparently we are behind (the Opposition) but actually we are not,” he said.

Khan often refers to the World Cup that Pakistan team won in his captaincy. Earlier, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid also said that the prime minister would not resign and fight till the last ball of the last over. Prime Minister Khan has effectively lost majority in Parliament after a key partner of the ruling coalition joined the ranks of the Opposition, which has tabled a no-confidence motion against his government in the National Assembly.

Khan needs 172 votes in the lower house of 342 to foil the Opposition’s bid to topple him. However, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islama Fazl (JUI-F), said that the Opposition has the support of 175 lawmakers and the prime minister should resign.

PTI SH ZH ZH