Pakistan Army personnel can make 'mistakes', but they can never be traitors or conspirators: Army spokesman

Islamabad: Pakistan Army personnel can make "mistakes," but they can never be a "traitor or conspirator," a top general said on Thursday as he appealed to the people to trust their institutions.

Military spokesperson Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar made the remarks during an unprecedented press conference by the country's powerful spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum who launched a veiled attack on former prime minister Imran Khan.

"We can make mistakes, but can never be a traitor or conspirator. The army is nothing without the people," Iftikhar said. "If we have made mistakes in the past, we have been washing them with our blood for the past twenty years. We will never fail the people of Pakistan, this is our promise."

He said the Army wanted facts to come out about the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif, who was shot dead at a police checkpoint at an hour’s distance from Nairobi on Sunday night, creating a storm in the country. The Kenyan police later said it was a case of “mistaken identity” during a search for a similar car involved in a child abduction case.

"Therefore, the government has been requested to form a high-level inquiry commission," the spokesman said.

Sharif, 49, a former reporter and TV anchor with ARY TV, and known for his proximity to former prime minister Khan, had fled to Kenya after he was booked on charges of sedition and peddling an “anti-state” narrative by Pakistan's security agencies earlier this year. His mortal remains were brought to Pakistan and buried on Thursday, with thousands attending his funeral.

The Army spokesman said that ARY channel CEO Salman Iqbal "should also be brought back to Pakistan" and made a part of the probe as his name has surfaced repeatedly.

"It has to be determined who exactly benefited from his killing," he added.

Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf party and its senior leaders condemned Sharif's killing and demanded a detailed investigation.

"Shocked at the brutal murder of Arshad Sharif who paid the ultimate price for speaking the truth - his life. He had to leave the country & be in hiding abroad but he continued to speak the truth on social media, exposing the powerful. Today the entire nation mourns his death,” Khan tweeted.

The Dawn newspaper reported that earlier this year, police had booked Sharif, ARY Digital Network President and CEO Salman Iqbal, Head of News and Current Affairs Ammad Yousaf, anchorperson Khawar Ghumman, and a producer for sedition over a controversial interview by PTI leader Dr. Shahbaz Gill broadcast on the channel on August 8.

The government on Wednesday reconstituted a panel probing the killing of Sharif in Kenya by removing ISI Lt Col Saad Ahmed’s name from the three-member team.

The two-member team, which includes Director/DIG Police, FIA Athar Waheed and Deputy Director General Intelligence Bureau Omar Shahid Hamid, will submit its report to the Interior Division.

The tragic killing reverberated internationally and the US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that the United States was “deeply saddened” by Sharif’s death and demanded a probe.

Earlier, Pakistan's powerful army had asked the government to carry out a high-level probe.