Islamabad: Former Sindh governor and former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Zubair followed his earlier statement and said there was no concrete information about the meeting between Nawaz Sharif and former Army General Qamar. Javed Bajwa.
In an interview with The News on Monday, Maryam Nawaz, former spokesperson and daughter of the former prime minister, said her comments about the meeting were essentially speculative and she could not speak under oath.
He explained that he was answering speculative questions, sharing rumors that were circulating at the time.
Zubair said he could not confirm the Nawaz-Bajwa meeting during the talks. However, he admitted that Imran Khan’s government was voted out in April 2022 with the support of the then military establishment.
Meanwhile, government sources said General Bajwa visited Britain four times during his six-year tenure as army chief. The Nawaz-Bajwa meeting reportedly took place in London a few months before April 2022, when Khan’s government was ousted by a no-confidence vote.
However, Bajwa’s last visit to London before April 2022 was over two and a half years ago in June 2019.
Official sources give details about Gen Bajwa’s visit to England: April 2 to April 7, 2017; October 10 to October 14, 2018; From June 20 to June 15, 2019; and from August 10 to August 14, 2022. Bajwa’s last visit to Britain as army chief came four months after the fall of Khan’s government.
The fight between Nawaz and Gen Bajwa is rumored to be held in London in early 2022. However, the record does not show that Bajwa visited London at that time. A search of online newspaper articles shows that there was no visit to England by Bajwa other than the dates mentioned above.
Nawaz traveled to London for treatment in November 2019 after serving seven years in prison for corruption. Khan’s government allowed Sharif to travel to London for treatment after developing an immune system disorder. Khan later claimed that Nawaz had left the country based on a fake medical report to avoid accountability.
Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have often mentioned the London Plan, which they claim was drawn up with Nawaz in London to topple the Khan government in April 2022.
Zubair’s recent televised speech was picked up by PTI and social media to support this stand. The PML-N rejected Zubair’s remarks and claimed that Nawaz and Bajwa never met after Nawaz’s government collapsed in 2017.
