On Monday, President Arif Alvi responded to a statement that was "wrongly attributed" to him regarding alleged support for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) provided by former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa during the 2018 general elections.
The president has taken note of the "wrongly attributed" statement, according to a tweet from the White House, adding that it "has been quoted out of reference to the context and is twisted and self-concocted."
"President Dr Arif Alvi has considered the articulation wrongly ascribed to him about the supposed assist stretched out by the previous Head of Armed force With staffing, General (r) Qamar Javed Bajwa, and his group in the Senate, and their assistance to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) during the decisions likewise," expressed the tweet.
After a local newspaper reported that Alvi told journalists, business leaders, and foreign diplomats at a dinner on Saturday that "Gen (retd) Bajwa and his team" had assisted PTI Chief Imran Khan in the Senate and during elections, the President's Office provided a clarification.
The report additionally expressed that the president said he talked about the "nonpartisanship" of the military with the military head, adding that "assuming the military had left legislative issues, it was the time lawmakers assumed responsibility for the circumstance".
According to the report, the president responded, "No, I don't think so," when asked if Imran had ever considered firing the then-army chief. It was just a rumor.
Alvi went on to say that he is "still looking for an answer" to the question of why and when Khan and Gen. (ret.) Bajwa's relationships soured.
The report says that the president said he had spoken to both the government and the opposition and suggested that elections could be held at the end of April or in May to find a middle ground. The report comes as Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi endorsed his son Moonis Elahi's statement that former army chief Gen (retd) Bajwa had suggested that his PML-Q party should support PTI during opposition's no-confidence motion against Imran in March of this year. Imran then accused Gen Bajwa of playing a "double game" against his government.
CM Elahi stated in an interview with a local television station that Gen Bajwa told him that going with Imran was a better choice after he shared his reservations about joining the PDM alliance because he "did not trust the Sharif family." Additionally, he stated that the "former COAS Gen (retd) Bajwa had turned the tides in favor of PTI."