PMLN govt didn’t ‘exist’ before Nov 28: Talal

ISLAMABAD: PMLN leader Talal Chaudhry claimed on Saturday it was not their government before November 28, 2022 and they remained severely constrained due to individual actions of certain officers. Talal’s remarks came a day after Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah alleged former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and former ISI head Lt Gen Faiz Hameed had been “facilitating” PTI Chairman Imran Khan until their retirement last year.

Speaking in Geo News programme Naya Pakistan, anchored by Shehzad Iqbal, Talal Chaudhry said that before November 28, the government was told every now and then to dissolve assemblies, and then, after a couple of weeks, they were asked to continue.

It may be mentioned that on November 29, the change of command took place in the army and former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa retired.

Talal said that the situation was deliberately created in favour of Imran Khan. He said though they were in the coalition government with other political parties, they did not get full support before November 28.

The anchor said the establishment had admitted to having committed mistakes and claimed it had remained apolitical since February 2021. Imran Khan, on the other hand, maligned it after his ouster and likened the establishment to animals, asking it “how could you be neutral.” Talal said the institutions were apolitical now. However, he said, before November 29, some characters in the institutions did certain things in their individual capacity whose burden had to be borne by the institutions.