The power players in Pakistan’s politics are clear as day. And one of them has spoken. While the ISPR director-general’s press conference yesterday was, on the surface, a briefing on national security and foreign relations, it unmistakably veered into the realm of politics, with pointed remarks regarding the PTI and Imran Khan. Held without any immediate trigger, the presser ostensibly covered a range of issues – from the return of terrorism to cross-border relations with Afghanistan – but carried an undercurrent of rebuke for the PTI’s narrative and conduct. In response to queries about alleged backdoor talks with the PTI, ISPR DG Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry emphatically stated that no political leader’s ambition supersedes the welfare of Pakistan. The message as it were will have been received by those it was intended for.
