Gen (retd) Bajwa advised us to support PTI at time of no-trust move, claims Moonis Elahi

• Moonis says they had offers from both PTI and PDM. 
• Says there was no doubt Gen (retd) Bajwa fully supported PTI. 
• He adds his party was of opinion elections should be held soon. 

ISLAMABAD: PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi revealed that former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa had advised them to back PTI when the no-confidence motion was moved against former prime minister Imran Khan, The News reported Friday. 

Moonis, during an interview with a private TV channel, said that both Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had made offers to them, however, Gen (retd) Bajwa asked them to support the Imran Khan-led party. 

“Certain elements are busy on social media bashing Bajwa sahib without any reason. This is the same Bajwa who changed the course of rivers for the PTI. Then he [Bajwa] was right, but now he is not. I have a total disagreement with those who are now talking against him,” Moonis said.

“When he was giving you all-out support, he was right,” the PML-Q leader said, wondering if Bajwa had now become a traitor to them.

“I’ve asked PTI office-bearers to sit with me on a TV show and prove that he is a traitor, and I will tell you exactly what he [Bajwa] has done for you.”

Moonis said that there was no doubt that the former COAS fully supported the PTI, but when he withdrew his support, he had become a bad person. “This is a bad example and I have a disagreement with them on it. He [Bajwa] was never against the PTI."

“Had he [Bajwa] been against them [PTI] at that juncture, he just had to give a signal, and we would have been sitting with them [PDM],” Moonis said.

The PML-Q leader added that his inclination was with PTI and he also talked to his father on the matter.

On the dissolution of assemblies, Moonis said that his party was of the opinion that general elections should be held as soon as possible because the popularity of Khan was at its peak at the time. “This is favourable for both the PTI and its allies,” he added.

He said that if the elections are held only in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the dissolution of assemblies, they would return with more majority for the next five years.

Moonis said the judiciary has established its neutrality and everyone knows this. “Courts have removed their blemishes." He said that they had no contact with the new establishment.

The PML-Q leader said when the establishment says that they have nothing to do with politics, he buys that because they have not influenced the Punjab government.