ISPR warns against ‘extremely damaging’ malicious ‘mentions’
By Tariq Derya
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military on Sunday sent a strong message to statespersons as well as the media to abstain from bringing up the forces and their top brass in their commentary on the country’s current political situation.
“Recently there have been intensified and deliberate attempts to drag Pakistan’s Armed Forces and their leadership into ongoing political discourse in the country,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
“These attempts are manifest through direct, insinuated or nuanced references to Armed Forces as well as their senior leadership, made by some political leaders, few journalists, and analysts on public forums and various communication platforms including social media.”
Pakistan army’s media wing laid it down that this practice of unsubstantiated, defamatory, and provocative statements /remarks were extremely damaging.
“Pakistan Armed Forces take strong exception to such unlawful and unethical practice and expect all to abide by the law and keep the Armed Forces out of political discourse in the best interest of the country,” it added.
This statement is likely an indirect upshot of PTI leader Imran Khan’s increasingly hinting at the institution whenever he talks about his ouster as prime minister.
Khan, who lost a parliamentary vote of no-trust last month, is on a revenge political campaign against the new setup, an alliance of the parties that were in opposition during the PTI government, demanding fresh elections.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) last month arrested at least eight people in a crackdown on social media activists, who were allegedly involved in a smear campaign against institutions, especially the army. Most of the arrests took place in Punjab.
The FIA has also launched an investigation against a private TV news channel anchor for allegedly posting ‘anti-state’ material on different social media.
The federal agency’s counterterrorism wing spun into action against social media activists after the in-house change of the government.
Khan’s cohorts took to streets as well as social media in massive numbers, aggressively registering their protest and calling for fresh elections, which, to them, is the only way to reclaim their leader’s lost glory.
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