ISLAMABAD/LONDON: The leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party is appeared to be shifting its focus to an aggressive narrative against five individuals, who it claims are responsible for the current economic and political turmoil.
Party leaders have recommended to chief Nawaz Sharif that it should target former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, former spy chief Faiz Hameed, retired chief justices Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khosa, and former prime minister Imran Khan for his removal on corruption charges in 2017 and purportedly rigging the 2018 elections in favour of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), according to reports in Geo News and Dawn.
The PML-N is said to blame retired generals Bajwa and Hameed for implementing a “plan to bring Khan to power at all costs”.
Since his ouster from power through a contentious vote of no confidence in April last year, Khan has attacked Bajwa — without naming him when he still held the army chief’s post and later naming him after his retirement.
Gen. Syed Asim Munir replaced Bajwa, who had held the all-powerful post for six years, including a three-year extension, in November last year. The appointment was a subject of considerable political contention in 2022 — a major part of the reason Khan was ousted from power was his falling out with the military on questions over the appointments to top army offices.
Khan also targeted other generals for what he claimed was their failure in stopping the foreign-funded no-confidence motion against him. However, he has refrained from criticising Hameed, whom he wanted to continue as the director general of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency for a variety of domestic and regional reasons.
