Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said that the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan wished to appoint the next army chief of his choice.

“Imran Khan is worried the most about the decision to be taken at the end of this month,” the minister said, adding that the army chief’s appointment was a decision to be taken by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

He said that Imran Khan had claimed that he would bring two million people in his long march, but by the time he reached Gujranwala, only a few thousand people were left in the long march.

The defence minister condemned the firing incident during the long march, however, he added that the issue was being politicized for political gain which was also condemnable.

He said that the chief minister of the province was equally responsible for the attack on Khan as security arrangement was the Punjab government’s responsibility.

The minister said that it was evident from the videos of an accused that his religious sentiments were hurt because of the language.

He said the government was interested to expose the real motive or culprit behind the incident but the PTI was not interested in fair investigations and politicizing this incident. PTI had not yet decided to file a case.

He regretted the statements of PTI leadership for leveling baseless allegations against the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah for the incident and advised to avoid such statements.