(Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. Learn to take a joke; you’ll live longer.)
ISLAMABAD – Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor on Thursday, reiterating his stance from a press conference held earlier this month, rejected the notion that the security forces have any direct role in how the July 25 elections will unfold, maintaining that everything is indirect.
Speaking at the special session of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, DG ISPR clarified that the army personnel are only following instructions indirectly.
“It’s only indirect as you can see,” Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said while addressing the Senate Committee. “There were some rumours that army personnel had been issued ‘different’ orders — this is completely baseless. They’ve been issued the same orders for decades,” he said.
“We do not have any direct link with the elections. We do not have a direct role in polls. Only indirect.”
Maj Gen Ghafoor then elaborated the election duty assigned to army personnel, saying: “The armed forces have always lent support to civil institutions. Sometimes they don’t take our support as they should, so we have to lend the support in a stronger fashion.
Maj Gen Ghafoor, however, made it clear that ‘stronger’ here does not mean undemocratic and definitely does not entail any direct role.
