Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir has said that the general elections in Pakistan would be held before March, Voice of America (VOA) Urdu reported while quoting Pakistan-origin businessman Tahir Javed on Thursday.

“Elections may be delayed by a few days due to logistics, however, polls will not stop now and will in any case be held before the Senate elections in March,” Javed said while quoting the army chief in an interview with the international news outlet correspondent Iram Abbasi.

He spoke to the news channel via video link. Javed spoke about the December 14 meeting when the army chief interacted with the overseas Pakistani community in Washington. The meeting lasted for around four hours.

The army chief had praised the contribution of expatriates while speaking about the matters related to economy, security, information technology, and agriculture.

COAS Munir left for the US on December 10. Munir succeeded Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as the military chief on November 29, 2022 at the change of command ceremony at the Army Hockey Stadium, close to the GHQ in Rawalpindi.

The army chief called on key US government and military officials during his ongoing visit to the US including, Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, General Llyod J Austin (retd), the secretary of defence, Victoria Nuland, the deputy secretary of state, Jonathan Finer, the deputy national security adviser and General Charles Q Brown, the chairman of joint chiefs of staff.

According to the VOA Urdu, the aforementioned statement was also confirmed by Pakistani-origin businessman Tanveer Ahmed, who had donated $9 million for the National University of Sciences & Technology in the field of IT development.

According to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations, the army chief had dispelled rumours about special screening, denial of visas and detentions during the interaction.

Moreover, the US administration has hailed its ties with Pakistan and expressed intention to further working with the South Asian country on regional and security cooperation.

“Pakistan is a major non-NATO ally of the United States and a NATO partner,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a weekly press briefing on December 18.