Gen Bajwa advocated talks with TTP: Omar Ayub

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Omar Ayub Khan Friday claimed that it was General Bajwa who had advocated talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Responding to DG ISPR’s press conference, he set the record straight by noting on X, “DG ISPR should know that it was General Bajwa who advocated peace talks with TTP.”

“In response to a question about peace negotiations with the TTP in the National Security Committee’s meeting in 2021, General Bajwa told the participants that all conflicts end through negotiations,” Omar Ayub wrote.

The meeting, he noted, was attended by all the top leadership and parliamentarians of PPP, PMLN, PTI and other parties in parliament.

Omar Ayub also wrote, “In response to DG ISPR’s other allegations “In response to DG ISPR’s other allegations against PTI, it appears that he was handed the same old script he has been reading out in the last few months (that has been rejected time and again), and he has read it out again. The same thing happened to President Yelstin of the Russian Federation when his assistant handed him a speech to read but mistakenly added a copy of the same speech. President Yelstin read out his speech and then continued to reread and repeat his speech when he realized that he was rereading the speech”.

Separately, the National Assembly’s former speaker Asad Qaiser said there was a deep concern over the current situation with Afghanistan, and both countries should resolve this situation through dialogue and diplomatic channels. In a statement, Asad Qaiser said, “We have a religious and blood relationship with Afghanistan and deep ties.” He said the current situation could create instability in the region and the federal government should take all parties into confidence on this issue.

Qaiser said the matter should be taken forward according to their suggestions by forming a Jirga consisting of the political leadership of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “We are fed up with wars for 40 to 50 years. Such a situation with a brotherly Islamic country is not acceptable. War, violence and aggression are not solution to any problem. Pakistan and Afghanistan should put their concerns before each other,” he maintained.

Meanwhile, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram Friday underlined the need for course correction and introspection, as Pakistan and its 240 million people had been bearing the brunt of the state machinery’s wrong and misguided priorities since long.

“It is the state’s responsibility to uphold justice and ensure fair play rather than resorting to intimidation, coercion and threat,” he said in reaction to the news conference of the director general ISPR earlier in the day.

He emphasized that justice could not be served by making decisions with preconceived notions and biases, as such decisions could not be accepted as just.

He contended that the power to punish or reward individuals lay solely with the judicial system, as mandated by the Constitution, warning that allowing defence institutions to establish their own courts would have devastating consequences for the state’s justice system and the constitutional framework as a whole.

The PTI spokesman noted that this was precisely why decisions delivered by independent constitutional courts were universally recognized and respected, whereas those made by military courts were not accepted anywhere in the world.

Waqas pointed out that the alarming decline in the state’s rational thinking, decision-making and overall governance had been the primary catalyst for the prevailing chaos and conflict plaguing the country. He argued that the state’s narrative, built on deeply flawed, unrealistic and hateful foundations, was the primary driver of escalating tensions and confrontation between the people and state institutions.

Waqas warned that the growing trend of labeling critics of the government and its decision-makers as chaotic or anti-state would have disastrous repercussions for Pakistan. He said peaceful protest was a fundamental democratic and constitutional right of every political party; therefore, the government’s decision to block the PTI’s protest by placing shipping containers across the route was utterly incomprehensible and unjustified.

He asked why Article 245 was invoked, roads blocked and peaceful and unarmed workers were arbitrarily detained and demonized, turning innocent citizens into perceived troublemakers.

Waqas said millions of Pakistanis actively engaged in national discussions on the media and social media platforms, exercising their critical thinking and expressing their opinions based on their consciousness and available information under a modern and automated system.

He stressed that the state’s indiscriminate crackdown on its citizens, addressing critical opinions and legitimate criticism as hostile attacks, only served to escalate tensions and perpetuate a culture of lawlessness in Pakistan.