Though PTI chief Imran Khan’s much-awaited Long March did not start on Friday after prayers, the verbal battle between him and the establishment was joined on Thursday, with an unprecedented appearance by DG ISI Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum, accompanied by DG ISI Lt Gen Babar Iftikhar, at a press conference. The presser did not target the Long March, nor General Nadeem mention Mr Khan specifically, but he clearly indicated the military’s distancing from the Long March, and he also made a couple of revelations which dented Mr Khan’s narrative.
First was his pointing out that Mr Khan met people in the night and called them traitors the next day. The revelation that Mr Khan had offered the COAS a lifetime extension just before the no-confidence bote that ousted him, goes against Mr Khan’s narrative that the military had conspired to oust him as PM. The presser also discussed the muder in Kenya of journalist Arshad Sharif, with General Babar stressing Mr Sharif’s departure from Dubai had to be investigated. The hints that were being made about Mr Sharif’s killing, that it was targeted, were reversed, and both generals spoke about the need to determine who had persuaded Mr DSharif to go to Kenya. Mr Khan has upped his attacks on the military since his ouster, and on Friday evening showed no deviation from this, while reacting in a TV interview to the presser, asking why the ISI and ISPR had held a political press conference if the institution had indeed become apolitical. By refusing to respond on the ground that he would be led into attacking the institution, he made his feelings clear.
One of the effects of the presser was that the rift between the PTI and the military, once so firmly on the same page, has come out in the open. The institution has finally reacted to the uncountable pinpricks to which it had been subjected by the PTI, especially its social media trolls. There should be no confusion, going forth, about institutional support for the PTI. It is significant that both DGs also separately said that the decision to be apolitical was institutional, not individual, and would not be reversed. The thrust of their remarks also indicated a resentment that the COAS had been targeted. It would be difficult to see a worse curtain-raiser for the Long March, which is aimed, among other things, at persuading the military to make sure that elections took place soon.
