ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s finance minister Ishaq Dar told a private news channel on Saturday the country’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa recently held two meetings with former prime minister Imran Khan which were facilitated by President Arif Alvi.
Dar made the comments amid widespread local media reports that the Pakistani president had arranged a meeting between Khan and top army officials, including Bajwa.
On Thursday, Alvi denied he had “brokered” any deal, though he added he “only makes efforts to bring people closer.”
Neither Khan nor the military have confirmed that the said meeting was ever held.
In an exclusive interview with 24 News, Dar was asked if the government was “kept in the picture” ahead of the army chief’s purported meeting with Khan.
“Not officially, but we had an access to it,” the finance minister responded. “After 30 to 35 years [in politics] we’ve also established our own intelligence.”
“As per our information, two meetings [between the army chief and Khan] took place,” he added.
Dar said it was difficult to guess the outcome of the Khan-Bajwa meeting.
“The way he [Khan] is behaving, he wants every person to follow what he is saying,” said the finance minister.
Khan, who was ousted from power in a no-trust vote in April, has frequently claimed he was removed from the office as a result of a “foreign conspiracy” hatched by the administration in Washington which was later implemented by his political rivals at home.
US officials and government authorities in Pakistan have both denied his claims.
In the public rallies since his ouster, the former prime minister has also criticized the country’s military for not protecting his administration against the international conspiracy.