In a 1st, ISI chief addresses media to slam Imran

Islamabad: The chief of Pakistan’s ISI on Thursday broke with a decades-long tradition of silence in public to appear at a presser alongside the head of the army’s media wing and counter former PM Imran Khan’s alleged anti-military narrative ahead of his long march from Lahore to Islamabad, starting on Friday.

- Omer Farooq Khan

“I know you are shocked to see me among you, and I can understand your surprise,” Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum began amid a frisson of excitement coursing through the gathering. “But today is a different day; I’m not here for myself but for my institution, whose soldiers and officers sacrifice their lives every day for this country. I broke my silence because I saw the country and our institutions facing threats due to the lies that were being perpetuated and accepted by the youth.”