Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor on Thursday refuted Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo’s remarks that hinted at the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief’s involvement in manipulating the results of the no-confidence motion against the Senate chairman.
“Remarks by Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo implicating head of national premier institution are unfounded,” the military spokesperson tweeted. “The tendency to bring entire democratic process into disrepute for petty political gains doesn’t serve democracy,” he added.
Earlier after the results of the secret ballot in the Senate were announced, Senator Bizenjo while responding to a reporter’s query said the 14 opposition senators who voted against the joint opposition’s no-trust motion were ‘ISI DG Lt Gen Faiz Hameed’s men’.
In a post shared on Twitter, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry also slammed Bizenjo’s remarks. “Hasil Bazenjo is among the lot who have been made hero by [the] anti-Pak and anti-Army segment of media [and] politicians, he is used [and] abused by shrewd fellows like [Maulana Fazlur Rehman],” he said. “His rants against a very honourable officer is nothing but rubbish,” he added.
Gujranwala judge summons NP leader for remarks against ISI chief
Separately, Gujranwala Additional Sessions Judge Tariq Saleem Chohan on Friday summoned Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo on August 8 regarding his accusation that ISI chief’s ‘people’ were behind the opposition’s embarrassing failure in a no-confidence vote against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. The judge accepted for hearing the petition, submitted by well-known lawyer Manzoor Qadir Bhinder, and summoned a report on the matter from the Gujranwala city police officer (CPO).
As per the petitioner, after losing the Senate vote, Bizenjo had made a ‘baseless and false’ statement against the head of a state institution. Bhinder claimed that this was an attempt to defame a key leader of the Pakistan Army. He asked the court to request the Gujranwala CPO to instruct the Civil Lines police station to register a case against Bizenjo. The Senate secretary has also been sent a notice for Bizenjo’s appearance in the court.
The joint opposition had last month submitted a no-confidence resolution against Sanjrani and had named Bizenjo as its candidate for the position. On Thursday, the opposition suffered a shock defeat when it fell three votes short to dismiss the Senate chairman despite having a comfortable majority in the Upper House.
Family sources told a private TV channel that the head of the National Party (NP) is battling cancer and is being treated at a private hospital after falling ill.
