Pakistan News: stop attacking the new army chief; said President Arif to Imran khan

President Arif Alvi has asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party chief Imran Khan to strictly instruct his party leaders and social media team not to attack the newly appointed army chief General Asim Munir and the powerful army. This was stated in a media report on Tuesday amid the tussle between the army and the former prime minister. Khan and his followers have been relentlessly attacking former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for allegedly toppling the PTI government. 

Munir replaced Bajwa

Gen Munir, who headed both the powerful intelligence agencies, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI), succeeds Gen Bajwa, who retired on November 29 after an extension of three years. 

'Don't criticize the army chief' According to The News report, a source in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp message sent to the party leadership and social media team, claiming that President Alvi told Khan that the new army Criticism of the establishment is like a 'red-barrier' which cannot be crossedshould be done.Alvi belonged to Khan's party before assuming the presidency.

'Can't always fight with the institution'

When asked about the President's purported message to Khan, party spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said that both the President and the PTI chairman were already clear that there would be no attack on the new military establishment and the army chief. The newspaper quoted him as saying, "There cannot always be a fight with the institution."

Chaudhary wondered why the PTI would criticize Gen Munir as he was appointed by Khan. ,He said that the new army chief comes with a new policy and the PTI hopes that what the military establishment under Gen (retd) Bajwa allegedly did to the PTI during the last 7-8 months, will not happen now. 

Congratulations to the new army chief

Last week, Khan congratulated General Sahir Shamshad Mirza as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and General Munir as the new Chief of Army Staff. Khan expressed hope that 'the new military leadership will work to end the trust deficit that has been created over the past 8 months between the nation and the state. The strength of the state is derived from its people. 

In the same tweet, Khan shared a quote from Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, "Don't forget that the armed forces are servants of the people and you don't make the national policy, it is we citizens who decide these issues and It is your duty to complete the tasks that have been assigned to you. The newspaper said that through these tweets and the continuous targeting of senior ISI officials, Khan is pressuring the current military leadership to make some changes in the ISI.