Earlier, the DG ISPR had dismissed the claims of 'foreign conspiracy’ behind former prime minister Imran Khan’s ouster. He had said that he had ‘already clarified’ the matter and rejected the claim once again.
The NSC meeting that was held on the issue during Imran Khan’s tenure was attended by top military leadership and the participants were “clearly and in detail briefed by agencies that there is no kind of conspiracy or any evidence of it”, he had added.
Responding to the DG ISPR’s remarks, PTI General Secretary Asad Umar had said that the military’s opinion on national security issues cannot be taken as a final word. “No one has the right to twist and distort the facts. Former prime minister Imran Khan has repeatedly claimed that he had been ousted from power through a foreign conspiracy. President of Pakistan’s letter to the chief justice, remains unanswered. A judicial commission should hold open hearings and whether there was a conspiracy will be settled once and for all.”
PTI leader Shireen Mazari had said: “With due respect to ISPR DG’s statement on the cipher not being reflective of regime change conspiracy but merely of an unacceptable interference in our internal affairs, clearly, there is a difference in interpretation and it is wrong to label those disagreeing as basically liars.”
Today, the DG ISPR, while talking to a private news channel, said he did not make any “political statements”, rather it was a clarification, on behalf of the services chiefs of the Pakistan armed forces.
“I am the spokesperson of the services chiefs, if someone speaks something about the services chiefs, then I will have to clarify it — there is nothing political about this,” he said.
The DG ISPR said he, in the previous interview, responded to the claims of ex-interior minister Sheikh Rasheed that “none of the services chiefs in the NSC meeting said that there was a conspiracy”.
“He was in a way trying to convey that he was speaking on their behalf,” the DG ISPR said, stating that he is the spokesperson of the services chiefs.
On the demands of the formation of a judicial commission to probe the matter, he said the army is ready to support the investigation in any way possible.