By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday denounced Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party for waging a propaganda campaign against the armed forces, saying that such actions “will not be tolerated at all”.
“The kind of things being propagated about General Asim Munir and his family on PTI’s official website is woeful, something that we have never heard or seen before,” Sarif said during a cabinet meeting.
“Therefore, the time has come for us to become fully cognizant that we will, under no circumstances, tolerate such actions against our motherland, innocent people, or the armed forces of Pakistan.”
The prime minister’s comments followed a call by the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), for the nation to stand up against “digital terrorists” who were maligning the country and its armed forces on social media.
“Digital terrorism is being done on social media. The army is standing up against terrorists and digital terrorists. The time has come for the entire nation to stand up against them,” Lt General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the chief military spokesperson, stated on Monday.
Sharif also criticized the PTI for its alleged involvement in propaganda against the country and its integrity.
“The perpetrators of the May 9 riots, who had also attacked parliament and PTV and besieged the PM House in the past, have resorted to new tactics to malign the country and its armed forces as a malicious campaign was run against Army Chief General Asim Munir from the official website of the PTI,” the Prime Minister said. “We will not tolerate any such steps against the country, its innocent people, and its armed forces.”
The prime minister expressed concern over the surge in terrorist attacks in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, describing them as “pre-planned” and part of an “organised conspiracy”. “These [attacks] are being carried out under an organised conspiracy.”
Sharif condemned recent attacks that claimed the lives of armed forces personnel, saying they were “unacceptable” and indicated the involvement of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) based in Afghanistan.
“But how is it possible that we hosted millions of their people here without any complaint? We treated them like our brothers and never considered them as a burden. But we were rewarded in the form of TTP attacks on our citizens to mar the country’s peace and business. This is not acceptable,” he remarked.
Pakistan has repeatedly urged Kabul to rein in the TTP, which it says operates from Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban administration denies providing sanctuary to the group.
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