Islamabad: The Pakistan Army’s top brass, led by General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has reportedly asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign after the conference of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) scheduled for 22 and 23 this week.
Pakistan media reports stated that the decision to oust Imran Khan was taken by General Bajwa and three other senior Lt. Generals in a meeting which took place after Bajwa and the country’s spymaster Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum met Imran Khan. It was reported that all four military leaders decided not to give any escape route to Imran Khan.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), incidentally, is hoping that its trump card of former Army Chief Raheel Sharif’s meeting Bajwa at the behest of Imran Khan will save the government.
However, Raheel Sharif also failed in his mission, noted the local media in its reports. Amid the looming no-confidence motion against his government, Imran Khan met Army Chief Bajwa on Friday.
The meeting is being speculated to have revolved around the recent political developments in the country, with the local media reporting that the agenda could have included the upcoming OIC summit in Pakistan, the ongoing unrest in Balochistan and the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government.
The majority of PTI leaders are waiting for the outcome of this meeting amidst the fragile political situation in the country, Capital TV, a Pakistani media channel reported. The meeting is also being seen as an attempt by Imran Khan to get back in the good books of the Pakistani establishment, which is the Pakistani Army, to save his government.
The fissures between Imran Khan and the Army establishment became visible when the former in his profanity-laced speech on March 11 had rebuffed Army Chief Bajwa’s advice to not use derogatory remarks against Opposition leaders.
“I was just talking to Gen Bajwa (Chief of Pakistani Army) and he told me not to refer to Fazl as ‘diesel’. But I am not the one who is saying that. The people have named him diesel,” Khan reportedly said referring toJUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
Pakistan will host a two-day meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Islamabad on March 22 and 23.
The 48th summit of the OIC-CFM will be convened under the theme: “Building Partnerships for Unity, Justice, and Development,” Geo News reported.
Meanwhile, in a statement, OIC said the session will address many topics and the activities of the OIC General Secretariat on “implementing the resolutions adopted on various issues in the Islamic world, including the issue of Palestine and Al-Quds”, the Pakistani newspaper reported.
The statement said that the summit will also discuss developments in Afghanistan, Geo News reported.
Pakistan’s opposition leaders have threatened to stage a “sit-in” in the lower house and disrupt the OIC summit if the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan is not presented in the National Assembly on Monday, the deadline for tabling the resolution.
If the opposition stages a sit-in then an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit that is scheduled to take place there on the same day will be hampered.
According to the rules, the resolution, “shall not be voted upon before the expiry of three days, or later than seven days.” Therefore, the speaker must call the lower house in session by March 22, while voting on the no-confidence motion must take place between three and seven days after the session is summoned.