Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that it is a matter of grave concern that “baseless and unsubstantiated” allegations have been made against the army. He said that the allegations were for political interests and made by only a specific political party and its few individuals.
It is believed that Zardari was referring to the attack made by former Pakistan PM Imran Khan and his party following his unceremonious ouster from power in April 2022.
Zardari made the comments following his meeting with the chief of the army staff (COAS) General Asim Munir — the first after he was elected as the president.
According to the statement released following the meeting, Zardari expressed, “grave concern the baseless allegations levelled by a specific political party and its few individuals against the institution and its leadership to accrue narrow political interests and resolved to deal with such disruptive elements with an iron hand”.
In Pakistan, the army has been in power for over half of its 75-plus years of existence and has also indirectly called the shot on who forms the government.
During the meeting, the COAS apprised Zardari of the ongoing army operations against terrorism and highlighted the army’s preparedness.
The meeting comes at a time when there has been a rise in targeted killings and suicide bombings in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces bordering Afghanistan.
The rise in violence can be attributed to the fragile months-long truce with the government which was called off by the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Last month, seven Pakistani soldiers, including two army officers, were killed in a militant attack in the same district. The attack led the Pakistani military to carry out rare airstrikes against suspected TTP hideouts inside Afghanistan on March 18, killing eight people.
Recently, a suicide attack in northwest Pakistan has killed five Chinese nationals. The suicide bomber rammed the explosives-laden vehicle into the convoy which was carrying Chinese engineers from the capital Islamabad to their camp in Dasu.
