Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter Sethi said Khan had presented the offer to avoid accountability in Parliament. Now that his offer had been spurned, the PTI chairman has resorted to attacking COAS Bajwa in the day and begging him come night as his "unconstitutional" demands stood unmet.
"It’s significant that @ImranKhanPTI offered the mother father of all bribes to Gen Bajwa (extension for life) to avoid accountability (VONC) in parliament. Now he begs Gen Bajwa at nighttime and blasts him in daytime when he continues to refuse IK’s unconstitutional demands."
The TFT editor also said the military may intervene if public order was compromised over the next few weeks. "The generals may intervene to stop political chaos and economic meltdown." Guess who, the TFT editor then said not-so-cryptically, would emerge as the "biggest loser" then.
"If there is violence and chaos in the next few weeks, chances are the Generals will intervene to stop political chaos and economic meltdown. Guess who will be the biggest loser of all?"
The TFT editor earlier said on Friday that the PTI chairman will not be able to realise his objectives sans violence.
He made these comments in flagship Naya Daur TV show Khabar Say Aagay. Khan, Sethi said, would not initiate it. Those arrayed against him too, he said, were not game for this. This, the star journalist credited to a vigilant media.
If discipline breaks due to popular pressure then the State will be under siege and not the government, Sethi said. This, he said, may constitute a grave situation. Khan’s movement, he said, was aimed at seizing the State.
The PTI chairman said earlier the same day that “Dirty Harry” (Major General) Faisal and (Sector Commander) Faheem had been perpetuating tyranny in Islamabad. Khan made the remarks while addressing supporters before the PTI’s Long March to Islamabad commenced from Lahore’s Liberty Chowk. He demanded the two be sacked.
Taking a potshot at DG ISI Nadeem Anjum, Khan said while the top spy had claimed the military remained aloof from politics, his presser was replete with it. The PTI chairman said the unprecedented media talk brimmed with more politics than a Sheikh Rasheed presser.
Journalist Asad Toor separately said Khan had met COAS Bajwa once again on October 17 at an ISI safehouse in Islamabad. The meeting happened in presence of President Arif Alvi and former finance minister Asad Umar. Khan had been explicitly told on the occasion that the long march must remain peaceful and he must have the PTI return to the National Assembly.
Commenting on the unprecedented DG ISPR and DG ISI presser, journalist Amir Mir said the need for it had become imperative. Khan, he said, had flouted the “red line” and was regularly crossing every limit of insolence. This, Mir said, had made it binding for the Pakistani establishment to deliver a message in kind which had commenced with Faisal Vawda’s media talk earlier on Wednesday. “The establishment has run out of patience,” Mir added.
The PTI chairman had offered COAS Bajwa an extension in March which was declined, DG ISI Nadeem Anjum said in an unprecedented media talk on Thursday. He addressed the press conference alongside DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) General Babar Iftikhar.