KARACHI: Defence Min­is­ter Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday that “barring one or two exceptions”, all prior appointments in the military forces were on merit, Dawn.com reported.

Addressing a presser with Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, he said the recommendations for the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force were sent to the prime minister who made the decision after consultation with others.

On PTI chief Imran Khan’s comments at a recent rally in Faisalabad regarding the appointment of the upcoming army chief that generated controversy, Mr Asif said the ex-premier had given a “new meaning” to his comments in Tuesday’s Peshawar rally. “This is done as part of a well-considered strategy that first you attack and make institutions controversial and see the reaction and then say ‘I talked about merit’,” he believed.

Mr Khan had said PPP and PML-N leaders were making all-out efforts to bring their “favourite” army chief after the retirement of the incumbent. In a bid to clarify his remarks about the appointment of the army chief, he later claimed that his rivals were “distorting” his statements to pit him against the military and the judiciary. “My criticism of the Pakistan Army is constructive in nature,” he told the charged crowd in Peshawar.

Referring to the PTI chief’s comments, the defence minister said the situation was such for the PTI that even Mr Khan’s confidantes remained mum, made excuses or avoided the question when they were asked for their opinion on their leader’s comments. Also, President Arif Alvi “dissociated himself from what Imran Khan said,” the minister added.

The defence minister called on the PTI chief to tell when army appointments were not done on merit. “Our last appointment of the current army chief was endorsed by them (PTI),” Mr Asif said. “Now that they (PTI) no longer have power, every person [of PTI] is attacking our military leadership and deliberately creating doubt and suspicion for the upcoming [army chief] appointment.”

While considering Mr Khan’s clarification about merit, the defence minister said he should be questioned if appointments made under the PTI’s tenure of former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan were on merit or not.

He raised a laundry list of alleged corruption cases regarding the PTI government, such as the Peshawar BRT inquiry, Toshakhana reference, legalising a payment to Bahria Town and others, and questioned whether merit was considered in those matters as well.

Meanwhile, in the question-answer session, Mr Asif said: “I think this debate should be over. This debate has never happened in the past on this appointment.” The sanctity of the military forces and their processes should not be made controversial, he said, adding that the announcement for the next army chief in the past was usually made in the last week of November.

He made it clear that there was no decision of any kind on the current army chief’s extension in a recent meeting of the Pakistan Democratic Movement.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2022