Fawad Hassan Fawad, an aide to former PM Nawaz Sharif, claimed that General Raheel Sharif tried to use the Panama case to pressure Nawaz Sharif for an extension.

Fawad made the claims in Faisal Aap Ka with Asma Shirazi on Aaj News on Thursday in a wide ranging interview that ranged from his time as the principal secretary to the prime minister and his time in jail.

“The pressure for the extension was immense,” Fawad said.

He added that pressure for the then-army chief’s extension had steadily been mounting and it primarily came from within the party. He said that the discussion about the extension initially started from the provincial government in Punjab, which was also made up of the PML-N at the time. However, he stopped short of naming anyone specific behind the rumours.

He added that the options of extending the army chief for another three years and promoting him to field marshal were floated at the time. However, Nawaz Sharif rejected both ideas.

He said that after the Panama Papers case began, Nawaz Sharif was once again told that the extension could be done now. However, Fawad claimed that Nawaz refused again.

Fawad also claimed that multiple attempts were made to dislodge the Nawaz government, but General Raheel was not in favour of removing the government. He also claimed that an attempt had been made to bring in a third force in the 2013 elections, but PML-N’s government had become inevitable.