Harun Aslam, retired lieutenant general of Pakistan has said that he disagrees with former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa that the army will stay out of the country’s politics. The retired lieutenant general also said that political leaders are to blame for the civil-military imbalance in the country.
Remarks of former Lieutenant General Harun
Former Lieutenant General Harun Aslam made the remarks while addressing a session on Civil-Army Relations, Co-existence, or Confrontation, at a conference on the future of Pakistan organized by students of the London School of Economics in London on Saturday. According to the Dawn newspaper, Aslam said, “Why did Imran Khan give an extension to General Bajwa?” Why did Asif Ali Zardari extend Kiyani’s (General Ashfaq Parvez’s) extension? I believe that the army should remain neutral and refrain from interfering in political matters. But keep in mind that you can’t turn it off.’
Explain that General Aslam was the most senior at the time of the retirement of former Army Chief Kayani. Prior to this, he was the DG of Military Operations and Bahawalpur Corps Commander.
Voted for Imran Khan but won’t do so again: Aslam
At the beginning of the session, he expressed self-reproach, saying that he had voted for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan in the last election and would do so again. But in the same breath, he criticized Khan and other civilian leaders for contributing to the civil-military imbalance.
He said, ‘If you encourage good civilian leadership, the army will back down, we have to go by the will of the people.’
He says, “The relationship between the (civilian) component and the military is a triangle of love, hate, and expediency. Everyone loves the army when we score against India. But everyone hates the army if there is an intervention. It is not the army that is actively intervening; it is a collective thing.
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