Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum on Thursday addressed a press conference along with the DG ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar in Islamabad.
This is the first time in Pakistan’s history that the head of the country’s spy agency has directly addressed the media. At the outset of the press conference, Gen Iftikhar said the purpose of today’s media talk was to shed light on the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya and the circumstances surrounding it.
DG ISI while referring to the accusations leveled by former prime minister Imran Khan against the military leadership said “You meet in the night for personal interests and call traitor in the day”.
This press conference is being held in the context of presenting facts so that “facts, fiction, and opinion can be differentiated”, he said, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was “specially informed” about the sensitivity of the press conference.
The key points of the press conference were:
1. ARY News played the role of a spin doctor in targeting the army; CEO Salman Iqbal should be brought back to Pakistan
2. KP govt in August issued a letter stating TTP splinter group was looking to target Sharif
3. No one forced Arshad Sharif to leave Dubai
4. COAS presented “a lucrative offer” for an extension in March
Besides, it is necessary to determine the factors due to which a particular narrative is being built and people are being misled, he said. “Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was also targeted and faced criticism. An attempt was made to create a divide in society.”
He further stated that Sharif’s death was an “unfortunate incident” and called him an “icon of journalism in Pakistan”. He also noted that members of the late journalist’s family had served in the army.