Although initial reports from Army Chief General Asim Munir’s address at a youth conference in Islamabad focused on his expectations from the country’s young population, reporters who attended the event revealed that he said much more on various topics.

According to versions by reporters who attended the event at the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad, the general took questions from the audience and spoke openly about elections, foreign policy and political events from the recent past.

Elections and elected government

The army chief told the audience that elections would take place as planned on February 8 but they should vote ‘carefully’. He reportedly even remarked that votes should not be ‘sold’ on election day for Rs5,000.

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According to journalist Shehbaz Rana, he went on to say that governance takes place on the ground so people should not decide who to vote for after looking at a ‘six inch screen’.

Political Parties

The army chief was also asked about why governments in pakistan do not manage to complete their tenure. He responded that being elected did not give parties a license to misgovern for five years.

According to Rana, he also asked the crowd, “Should political parties be allowed to break Pakistan? Should people keep waiting for the end of the five-year term?”

Without naming the PTI, General Munir said that the party should have stuck to the constitutional system after being removed through legal means instead of taking to the streets.

Another journalist, Gahridah Farooqui, he said that all parties have good and bad people and so do institutions.

However, General Munir said that the law could be amended to allow voters in a constituency to de-seat their representative if enough people vote for it.

Foreign policy

The army chief reportedly said ruled out the possibility of reconcilation with India as he said that India had not reconciled itself with the idea of Pakistan’s existence.

On the airstrikes into Iran, General Munir said that if a country ‘backstabs’ Pakistan, they will get a befitting reply.

He also said that Pakistan had fed Afghans for 50 years but an attack on Pakistan will not be tolerated. He went on to say that Pakistanis do not read history and that Afghanistan had opposed Pakistan’s membership of UN.

“When it comes to the safety and security of every single Pakistani, the whole of Afghanistan can be damned,” he said.