Abbasi flays Imran Khan over army chief appointment remarks

• Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says Imran Khan's politics revolves around the army chief. 
• He calls upon Imran to end the circus of his personal interests on this issue. 
• Says the army chief's appointment is the PM's prerogative. 

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Chairman PTI Imran Khan's politics revolves around who will be the next army chief.

Reacting to Imran Khan's statement regarding the appointment of the Army Chief, the PML-N leader said, in a statement, that Imran Khan should stop the circus for his personal interest on the issue of the appointment of the Army Chief.

In an exclusive interview with a private news channel on Monday, Imran Khan suggested deferring the appointment of the new army chief until the country has a newly formed government. Per Imran Khan, the upcoming government should appoint the leader of the Pakistan Army.

Read more: Army chief’s tenure should be 'extended till elections', suggests Imran Khan

"Has Imran Khan read the constitution of Pakistan?" Shahid Khaqan Abbasi raised the question, pointing out that the appointment of the Army Chief is the Prime Minister's prerogative. Imran Khan exercised the same discretionary power in August 2019 - four months before the retirement of the Army Chief, he said.

"Is Imran Khan, with his statement, saying that there is no lieutenant general eligible to lead the Pakistani army?" asked Abbasi. 

What Imran Khan said

On September 12, Imran Khan proposed to extend the tenure of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa till the next elections.

Khan said that the appointment of an army chief should be deferred until the government is elected, which should then choose the new military head.

Read more: Fawad Chaudhry says he 'doesn't know' whether Imran Khan met ex-US diplomat

Khan has been making headlines since his ouster in April this year because of his constant remarks regarding the army chief.

Earlier this month, while speaking during a public rally in Faisalabad, the PTI chairman had called out the government, saying that it was delaying the elections to appoint an army chief of its own and that if a "patriotic chief of army staff comes in, he will not spare the incumbent rulers."