The farewell speech Irfan Siddiqui never penned for PM Shehbaz
At a time when Twitter was abuzz with the news that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had decided to step down in May last year and the decision was final to the extent that even a farewell speech was ready, the speechwriter concerned denied the claim by saying that he didn’t write any farewell speech for the premier back in May 2022.
The disclosure that Senator Irfan-ul-Haque Siddiqui had written PM Shehbaz’s farewell speech surfaced in journalist Shahid Maitla’s column, which is based on his meetings with former chief of army staff (COAS) Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa after his retirement.
However, Senator Siddiqui while talking to The Express Tribune refuted the claim, saying “neither anyone asked him to write any farewell speech for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif nor did he write any such thing in May 2022.” The senator said that he himself got to know that he wrote the farewell speech for PM Shehbaz through the column. “I didn’t write the speech I’m attributed to in Maitla’s piece,” he said.
Nevertheless, sources in the government confirmed to The Express Tribune that the farewell speech was indeed written for PM Shehbaz back in May 2022 but by someone else as Siddiqui used to write speeches for Nawaz Sharif and ex-president Rafiq Tarar only. They said that the farewell speech was written by Siddiqui’s pupil, Arshad Malik, as he has been writing speeches for PM Shehbaz.
Also read: Is PM Shehbaz following in Imran's footsteps?
Sources said that the gist of the speech was that the country needed a government with full mandate to tackle the economic and political challenges, emphasising that political stability was linked with economic stability and that could come only after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme was revived by a government having mandate for five years.
When approached for a comment, Maitla said that he only wrote whatever Gen Bajwa shared with him, saying he didn’t go for cross-verification because Bajwa said everything on the record. “All the facts that I have stated in my columns are based on whatever Bajwa said; these are one-sided facts,” he said, adding that he didn’t recheck because things were coming from such a “big personality”.
The journalist published the second episode of his series of columns on March 23, wherein he made startling revelations about the past events, how political confrontation shaped last year’s journey, the role that the army chief and the spymaster played in the political affairs of the country and how PTI chief Imran Khan begged for a meeting with Bajwa, which ultimately took place at Presidency, among other things.
In his column, Maitla has shed light on the details that are usually kept hidden from public eye, including the meetings that the political and military elite hold behind closed doors and how the political leadership looks toward the establishment before taking any step. For instance, Maitla writes, Gen Bajwa had scolded PM Shehbaz for making his son Hamza Shehbaz as Punjab’s chief minister, revealing that PM Shehbaz has a habit of listening quietly and he never responds to such outbursts.
The column attributes to Gen Bajwa as saying that the judges of the Supreme Court are “coward” as they even take pressure of TikTok videos, admitting that several judges of the top court are supporters of PTI and their families also influence the decisions just because they support PTI. It also says that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Article 63-A that defecting lawmakers’ votes could not be counted was not only a wrong decision but led to political instability in the country, adding that the judges now can’t seem to find a way to reverse it.
In his column, Maitla says that PM Shehbaz was ready to resign after the vote of no-confidence was successfully executed against the then PM, Imran Khan in April 2022, saying he would call snap polls after enacting three-four laws within four to six weeks. He writes that the elections date was finalised; PTI leadership was conveyed the same and asked not to hold long march against the government; PM was all set to leave the office on May 20; and Irfan Siddiqui had even finalised the farewell speech for PM Shehbaz.
However, he maintains, spymaster Nadeem Anjum drew PM Shehbaz, Gen Bajwa and others’ attention towards the upcoming meeting with IMF in Qatar on May 25, saying who would meet the global lender if PM goes home. Later on, Anjum convinced Nawaz Sahrif to delay the decision for 10 days so that talks could be held with IMF and “we will get 10 days’ time to make caretaker setup.”
This irked Imran Khan as PTI leaders, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Pervez Khattak told Anjum that Imran didn’t agree on anything less than Shehbaz’s resignation and refused to give 10 days. All attempts to stop Imran from conducting long march failed, he says, adding Gen Bajwa wanted to talk to him but he refused and that everyone saw on television screens when Imran held a press conference in Peshawar on May 22, 2022.
Everyone was ready for elections but Imran’s attitude changed the whole scenario, Maitla’s piece suggests, as the PML-N leadership met and conveyed to Gen Bajwa that evening that they would now stay in power and counter Imran’s every move. Maitla says Gen Bajwa tried to convince Qureshi by saying who would hold talks with IMF if Shehbaz resigns but got the same reply that Imran was not ready to budge. Maitla says Gen Bajwa has the audio tape of the discussion.
Soon after the column was published, anchorperson Kamran Shahid tweeted that Gen Bajwa has refuted the interview, saying Gen Bajwa has said that “I have not given interview to any one… I am going to take legal action.”