ISLAMABAD: A day after his meeting with Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Saturday declared that the army chief supported democracy in Pakistan.

“I will say only one thing about the army chief: the good news is that he stands by democracy in Pakistan,” Mr Khan said cryptically after reporters pressed him to comment on his meeting with the army chief on Friday.

Mr Khan, who was speaking at an event held to highlight the PTI’s ‘Billion Tree Tsunami’ project, said that if he spoke on the issue, it would defeat the whole purpose of the event.

True to his word, he made no mention of the subject in his subsequent remarks, insisting that the tree plantation drive was “a unique and an important project for Pakistan” that was necessary in order to improve climatic conditions in the country.

Political parties react cautiously to PTI chief’s cryptic statement

The news of Mr Khan’s meeting with the army chief came to light when the military’s spokesperson, Inter-Services Public Relations chief Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, took to the social networking site Twitter to share details of the meeting.

In a tweet on Friday night, the ISPR DG said: “Chairman PTI Imran Khan called on COAS. Imran Khan felicitated COAS on his prom [promotion] and appointment. Various issues came under discussion.”

It was not clear who had initiated the meeting, which came four months after Gen Bajwa’s appointment as army chief. However, while PTI leaders later confirmed that the meeting took place, neither they nor the ISPR chief mentioned its venue.

Later, the party issued a brief handout through its central media department, stating that the meeting lasted for about an hour, adding that issues related to “national security” came under discussion.

It said that the meeting was held in a very “warm and cordial atmosphere” and that the two men discussed international issues, with a focus on the situation in the region.

The statement claimed the PTI chief had also discussed issues such as terrorism, repatriation of internally displaced persons from tribal areas and the return of Afghan refugees with the army chief.

Observers and analysts are attaching great importance to the meeting, which comes at a time when speculation regarding a possible verdict in the Panamagate case has reached fever pitch.

Most political parties, including the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), have adopted a wait-and-see policy.

Political leaders when contacted reacted very cautiously and reluctantly spoke on the issue.

PPP Senator Saeed Ghani expressed his surprise over Mr Khan’s remarks, demanding that details of the meeting be made public to avoid speculation.

“I don’t know how Imran Khan has made this assessment. Did he ask any direct questions from the army chief or did [the army chief] declare himself to be a supporter of democracy?”

In Mr Ghani’s view, an hour was too long to just felicitate someone, adding that something serious could have been discussed in the meeting.

If tomorrow a significant development took place in the country, people would definitely relate it with the meeting, which would not be good, both for the country or the army chief, who had until now seemed focused on his job, the PPP senator said.

It was possible that Mr Khan had met the army chief to discuss the government’s decision to allow former army chief retired Gen Raheel Sharif to head a Saudi-led anti-terror coalition force, he said.

Another PPP senator who also holds an important party office termed Imran Khan’s statement “unnecessary.”

Mr Khan, he said, “does not seem to realise that what a public leader says, how he says it and when he says it, deflects public attention towards the meanings and import of the words uttered”.

“It amounts to giving some kind of a certificate without being asked for one,” the PPP leader said, adding that “public leaders issuing public statements that border on flattery do not enhance their standing.”

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal also refrained from commenting directly on Mr Khan’s meeting with the army chief, saying only that the country needed political stability and the continuation of the democratic system.

“If there is one lesson we can learn from our 70-year history, it is that the country cannot afford to lose economic stability and the continuity of policies, particularly at a time when we are on the verge of economic take-off,” the minister said.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2017