Present establishment not apolitical, claims Fawad Chaudhry

• Fawad says present establishment is not apolitical. 
• PTI wants working coordination with new establishment: PTI leader.
• Says military’s top leadership needs to have working relationship with all political parties.

ISLAMABAD: The present establishment is not apolitical, however, its interference in political affairs has reduced under the new military leadership, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry was quoted by The News.  

Speaking during an interview with a private TV channel, Fawad compared the two military leaderships, saying that the difference is that the number of unknown calls received by the PTI leaders has reduced drastically as compared to what was happening during the last several months.

Referring to Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi’s statement that the establishment does not want the dissolution of assemblies as it would deepen political and economic instability, the PTI leader also interpreted it as the establishment’s interference in politics. He insisted that such pure political matters should be left for politicians to decide.

PTI has been consistently asking the establishment to force the government to early elections. The former information minister also referred to the cases of party leaders Senator Azam Swati and Shahbaz Gill to emphasise his point that the establishment has not become apolitical.

The PTI spokesperson instead said that the establishment always has a political role. When asked about former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa's announcement that the military has decided an institution to become apolitical, he said that the establishment will not become apolitical on the basis of a mere statement.

Fawad said that the PTI wants a working coordination with the new establishment. The establishment should have working coordination with all political parties, he said, adding that the army belongs to the entire nation and, therefore, it cannot be associated with any particular political party. 

All political parties should have a good view of the institution and for the same reason, the PTI also wants to have good working coordination with the military, added the PTI leader. 

Fawad said that the military’s top leadership needs to have a working relationship with all political parties. He said that the PTI does not want the army to support it, adding if the party wants to dissolve the assemblies, it should not happen that CM Elahi receives a phone call and is told that he should not dissolve the assemblies.