LAHORE – Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa confirmed suspension of six army officers by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif as part of an anti-corruption drive.
The officers were dismissed, punished and sent home on corruption charges, he said during a night-time television show with popular investigative journalist Kamran Khan. The army spokesperson said that the action was taken after months of investigation.
About the army’s silence and the absence of an official version after the sackings, Lt General Bajwa maintained such actions within the army were not made public anywhere in the world. “This news was not made public but was leaked days after the action was taken,” he said.
“I did not deny the news at that time but as I told you, it is not the institutional policy to do so. A press release was issued in the National Logistics Cell (NLC) scam case because NLC was a public institution,” he said. He also said that the army already has a branch dedicated to investigate such activities and present its reports to the army chief, who takes the required action.
– No inquiry against Gen Ghani, Gen Zaman –
He said that General Raheel Sharif has strengthened army’s this unit and was aggressively pursuing the anti-corruption drive. However, he categorically denied reports about an inquiry against General Sajjad Ghani and General Naveed Zaman, the two retired lieutenant generals.
About military courts, he said that the 11 death sentences announced a day earlier have taken the total number of decided cases to 88 and expressed the hope that all pending cases would be decided by January 2017, the end limit of the military courts. He also said that a total of 11 military courts were working across Pakistan day in and day out but no decision was being taken without following due process or in haste.
At least 207 cases were pending before the military courts, he said, adding that 88 have been decided and some cases were in pipeline. “All these (pending) cases will be forwarded to the courts after approval from the Ministry of Interior Affairs as well as the apex committee,” he said.
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