Imran Khan was not given 3 options; he asked for meeting: Military refutes Pakistan PM’s claim

The Pakistani military establishment has refuted the claim of Prime Minister Imran Khan that the establishment gave him three options — resignation, holding early elections or face the no-confidence motion, news agency ANI reported quoting Pakistani media.

The military establishment did not bring to the Opposition’s option (no-confidence motion) and it was Imran Khan who called the top brass seeking a meeting to discuss the political turmoil, the report said.

These three options were mutually discussed without the establishment offering them to Imran Khan and Imran Khan agreed to an early election, dissolving the assembly.

According to the report, the Chief of Pakistan Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and the Directive General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) met Pakistan PM on Wednesday at the request of the ruling government. After meeting Imran Khan, they met the opposition and conveyed what was discussed. The military stays neutral and encourages Imran Khan and the opposition to sit and discuss the issues, the report said.

‘Establishment gave me three options’

In an interview with ARY News, Imran Khan said that out of the three options, he found election the best one. “I cannot even think about resigning and as far as the no-confidence vote is concerned, I believe in fighting till the end,” he said. As several members of his party have defected to the opposition, he said it will be better if elections are held. “We cannot run the government with such people (defectors),” he said.

“If we win this no-confidence vote, it is a very good idea to go for early elections,” he said.

Conspiracy since August

Imran Khan, in the interview, said he was aware that some kind of conspiracy was being hatched against him since last August. And the centre of it was London. “He (Nawaz Sharif) was meeting people, people like Hussain Haqqani who was involved in memogate. They were in constant touch,” Imran Khan said. He also cited information that Nawaz Sharif held a meeting with Haqqani on March 3, just four days before the document citing US displeasure was received by the government.