‘I Did Not Issue Political Statements,’ DG ISPR

RAWALPINDI: Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar said Wednesday he “did not issue political statements” when he commented on the outcomes of the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting which reviewed the alleged “threat letter” from the United States.

The DG ISPR, during an interview with a private television channel a day earlier, had said the military leadership was present during the NSC meeting and the participants were briefed.

“[They were] briefed that there was no conspiracy or evidence of any kind [against the then government], nothing like that happened. Participants were told in detail that there was no evidence of any conspiracy,” the DG ISPR had said.

But responding to the military’s spokesperson earlier in the day, PTI General-Secretary Asad Umar said during a press conference that he believes that “it would be better for the army and the country if the ISPR director-general doesn’t find it necessary to interpret political affairs again and again.”

In response, DG ISPR, while talking to another private television channel today, said he did not make any “political statements”, rather it was a clarification, on behalf of the services chiefs of the Pakistan armed forces.

“I am the spokesperson of the services chiefs, if someone speaks something about the services chiefs, then I will have to clarify it — there is nothing political about this,” he said.

The DG ISPR said he, in the previous interview, responded to the claims of ex-interior minister Sheikh Rasheed that “none of the services chiefs in the NSC meeting said that there was a conspiracy”.

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