Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain Monday said that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa intervened in economic affairs of the country due to the “failure of politicians”.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Shujaat said only politicians were to be blamed for the prevailing economic crisis.
“Politicians should have discussed the economy instead of the army chief,” he added.
His statement came days after General Qamar Javed Bajwa reached out to Washington to push the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to immediately release nearly $1.2 billion Pakistan needs to stave off serious upheaval.
The army chief’s ‘appeals’ to the United States are in tandem with his discussions with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over measures for the restoration of confidence in the economy.
He also revealed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan as prime minister had refused to make PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi a federal minister and took up the matter of his “corruption scandal” with him.
“I had urged Imran Khan to make Moonis Elahi federal minister but he offered to make Chaudhry Salik Hussain [son of PML-Q chief] a minister,” he added.
Regarding Chief Minister Pervez Elahi and his support for the PTI, Shujaat urged him [Elahi] to act wisely and stop making a mockery of the family.
“I invite him to return to his residence,” he said, stressing that they [PTI] conspired to divide the party as well as the family.
He further said he wanted to change the party’s constitution to make it a strong political entity so that it could play a vibrant role in democracy.
“I have been with the party for 20 years, and have always supported the truth and will continue to do so. The party is united and will remain so,” he said.
Speaking about the rifts in the Chaudhry family of Gujrat, PML-Q Secretary General Tariq Bashir Cheema said that an attempt was made to create rifts in the party and added that no one could remove Shujaat as the president of the party.
The PML-Q decided earlier this week to remove party President Shujaat and General Secretary Cheema and hold a fresh election for the top posts within 10 days, senior party leader Senator Kamil Ali Agha said.
The decisions were taken in a meeting of the PML-Q Central Working Committee (CWC), chaired by Senator Agha. The meeting also formed a five-member election commission, headed by Jahangir A Joja, for the intra-party elections.
“How can provincial party bearer summon party’s central leadership meeting, he does not have the authority to remove Chaudhry Shujaat,” he remarked.
