ISLAMABAD: The military said a story published in the Urdu version of BBC accusing its top brass of attempting to pre-empt the rumoured removal late Saturday night of Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and pressuring the now-former prime minister Imran Khan of allowing the vote of no-confidence to go ahead was “a pack of lies”.
The story claimed “two uninvited guests” — presumably the army chief and his spymaster — who were armed with an extraordinary security detail reached Prime Minister’s House via helicopter and held a 45-minute “less than pleasant” private meeting with Khan.
“Just an hour ago, Khan had given orders to remove one of the senior officials present for the meeting,” the story further claimed, without mentioning any names.
It went on to say that the sudden arrival of the officials was “unexpected” for the former prime minister who was instead expecting the arrival of his “newly appointed officials” who were appointed in their place.
However, the story alleged the necessary notifications for the removal and the new appointments could not be issued by the Ministry of Defence. But “even if the removal was carried out on the prime minister’s orders, preparations had been made to declare it null and void,” the report said.
The story also talked about how the doors of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) were open late at night to take up a petition asking the court to restrain Imran from possibly de-notifying Gen. Bajwa.
The petition was filed but never fixed for hearing.
Responding to the story, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said it was “typical propaganda” that lacked “any credible, authentic and relevant source” and claimed that it “violates basic journalistic ethos”.
“There is no truth in the fake story whatsoever and clearly seems part of an organised disinformation campaign,” the statement added.
“The matter is being taken up with BBC authorities.”
