Sheikh Rasheed says taking on Gen Asim Munir was PTI’s ‘mistake’

Veteran politician and Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, who had gone missing a few weeks back, has last given a statement in which he has said that the PTI’s confrontation with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir was a mistake, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.

In an interview with a private news channel on Friday, he said that the former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his associates were under the impression that some senior army officers supported them. “But they were wrong,” he said, adding, “There was no reason to pick up a fight with the Pakistan Army.”

He was of the view that no politician should ever point a finger at the country’s armed forces.

AML chief further said that he had always counseled the PTI chairman to be on good terms with the ‘establishment’. “But he turned out to be a stubborn person,” veteran politician opined.

He went on to say that when negotiations were going on between the PTI and the army, Imran had twice asked him not to become part of the process.

He appealed to the COAS to announce an amnesty for those who had committed a folly by attacking military installations and memorials of the army’s martyrs on May 9 and set them free.

Rasheed went one step ahead and said that imams should denounce the incidents of violence of May 9 at every Friday sermon.

He said that the narrative which former prime minister and some of his comrades had made against the army ultimately had an impact on people’s minds.     

Dispelling the impression that he was in the custody of intelligence agencies during the time he was away from home, AML chief said that he had gone of his free will and that nobody had harmed him.