PML-N leader Mohammad Zubair met Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa twice in the past two months, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar confirmed on Wednesday.
Speaking to a private TV channel, the military spokesperson said the meetings were held at Zubair’s request and were related to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.
The first of the two meetings took place at the end of August – in which ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed was also present – while the second took place on September 7. The army chief made it clear during the meetings that legal problems will be solved by the courts and that political problems should be handled by the parliament. “The army chief had said that the armed forces must be kept away from these talks,” said the DG ISPR.
The ISPR chief was asked to comment on reports of politicians meeting the military leadership and claims that no PML-N leader was part of the reported meetings. “In both meetings he (Zubair) talked about Mian Nawaz Sharif sahib and Maryam Nawaz sahiba,” Maj Gen Iftikhar said. “During these meetings, whatever was discussed, the army chief made it clear to him (Zubair) that whatever their legal issues are will be solved in Pakistan’s courts, while the political issues will be solved in the parliament,” the ISPR chief added. The two reported meetings are separate from a meeting held between 15 prominent opposition members, including senior leaders of the PML-N, and the army and ISI chiefs on Sept 16 last week.
In that meeting, which had come days before opposition parties at a multi-party conference announced a wide-ranging anti-government movement and criticised the military’s interference in politics, the army and intelligence chiefs had counselled the opposition to refrain from dragging the military into political issues, it had emerged on Monday.
Meanwhile, Zubair, while talking to a private TV channel, said he has had personal ties with COAS Bajwa for more than 40 years. “There’s nothing unusual about the meeting,” he said when asked about the DG ISPR’s remarks.
He said he never broached issues related to elections or to Nawaz Sharif with the COAS. “As a friend, I thought I should brief him (Bajwa) on the state of economy of Pakistan and the issue of governance. But at the outset of the meeting I told him, I had not come for relief for anyone in my party, neither did I come on the request of anyone – neither Nawaz nor anyone else.”
Zubair confirmed that the meeting took place between the two, adding that he met the army chief at the end of August and during September. “My first sentence was that I am not seeking relief for myself, the party, Maryam or Nawaz Sharif,” he said. “Neither Maryam nor Nawaz Sharif asked me to hold the meetings [with the army chief].”
“Army chief termed matters against the PML-N leaders as legal affairs and said that courts should decide on them,” he said while quoting COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa and further added that such meetings are held in secret.
Earlier in the day, PML-N Vice President Maryam had reportedly said that no one representing her father Nawaz had met the army chief. She also said political decisions should be made in the parliament, not at the General Headquarters (GHQ). “I don’t know about a dinner, maybe it was not a dinner [but] I heard about the meeting. From what I understand it was called to discuss Gilgit-Baltistan which is a political issue,” she said.
