Pak PM backs Army Chief, slams Imran Khan of launching smear campaign targeting General Asim Munir

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has accused Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of carrying out a smear campaign against Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir, an allegation the party has denied, Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper reported.

The prime minister in a tweet said: “Disgusting smear campaign of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf against Chief of the Army Staff Gen Asim Munir, at the behest of Imran Niazi, deserves the strongest condemnation,” the prime minister said in a tweet. Sharif accused former PM Imran Khan of “stooping to unprecedented lows in his desperation for power and going to the extent of damaging the country and undermining its armed forces and their leadership”.

A press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office quoted Sharif as saying, the campaign against the COAS was intolerable as it was a continuation of a conspiracy against national institutions.

Sharif on Monday also condemned the “vile campaign” against General Asim Munir abroad and called overseas Pakistanis to raise their voices against it, Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper reported.

“The campaign against the army chief is intolerable and a continuation of the conspiracy against the institutions,” he said in a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

The Pakistan PM said that “toxic politics” was being spread through overseas Pakistanis.

Sharif called on patriotic Pakistanis living abroad to raise their voices against the “foreign-funded campaign” and not become a part of such conspiracies.

He further said that the campaign against the COAS, who according to the prime minister was the “first army chief to be appointed on merit in Pakistan”, could only be the agenda of the enemies of the country.

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