We are 'too busy' to get involved in political matters: Pak Army

November 07, 2019 09:29

The Pakistan Army on Wednesday said that it was "too busy" in matters of national security to get involved in any political issue, apparently referring to the massive protest led by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman demanding the ouster of country's Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, Pakistan Army spokesman, made the comments in an interview to Hum News Channel when asked if the army chief will mediate in the ongoing demonstration by the cleric-cum-politician Rehman.

Rehman is leading the massive protest, which entered the sixth day on Wednesday.

Dubbed as 'Azadi March', the protestors demand Prime Minister Khan's resignation, accusing him of "rigging" the 2018 general elections.

Rehman said the anti-government sit-in was staged with a view to fulfil a "national responsibility" and for which "much effort and resilience" has been exercised.

Ghafoor told the channel that army had nothing to do with the politics of sit-ins.

"We are too busy in matters of national security and defence to become involved in things like these and respond to these allegations," he said.

When asked if army chief would try to resolve the ongoing dharna against the government, he said, "the dharna is a political activity which the army as an institution has nothing to do with.

He rejected the impression that army was against the government when Imran Khan staged a similar sit-in in 2014 and said that the military had supported the government.

Ghafoor also rejected army's meddling in the electoral process.

"It neither has any role in the country's electoral process nor has it any desire to do so," he said. -- PTI

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