ISLAMABAD: The military’s media wing on Wednesday refuted a veteran journalist’s claim that former finance minister Shaukat Tarin had been pressured by the army to ditch Imran Khan.

“The insinuations by Shaheen Sehbai and some others on social media quoting the former finance minister are baseless propaganda,” the ISPR said in a rare person-specific rebuttal.

Propagating “malicious allegations” and “blatant lies” against the military and its top brass for promoting vested interests was “condemnable”, it said.

The ISPR also warned of legal action against those engaged in propaganda against the army. The statement came amid a barrage of criticism directed against the military after former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from power in April through a vote of no confidence.

“NEUTRAL EXPOSED: I am going to write soon about WHY the Chief Neutral, proved by Shaukat Tarin as Non-Neutral as he asked Tarin to betray IK [Imran Khan] and help Shehbaz, is so sensitive and DEAD SCARED about his remaining four months in office. Something fishy, intriguing, alarming, unpatriotic.”

However, Mr Tarin rejected Mr Sehbai’s claim, tweeting: “I categorically deny what has been attributed to me by Shaheen Sehbai. I was never asked by anyone in the establishment to leave IK and join Shehbaz Sharif government.” Noticing the unprecedentedly strong reaction from the army, Mr Sehbai tried to paddle back and get out of the controversy by saying that he had insinuated from Mr Tarin’s statement that he was pressed to change loyalties, instead of having some credible information.

“Hear for yourself what Mr Tarin is saying. If he had refused, every analyst would have said the same thing that he was told to help the government against Imran. I also said the same. Why is everyone so upset? Someone explain,” Mr Sehbai tweeted in Urdu and attached a video clip in which Mr Tarin explained how and why he declined the request for help in dealing with the IMF.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2022