Online Desk: Interior Minister ,Pakistan Mohsin Naqvi accused the PTI and its social media propagandists of spreading fake news about protesters’ deaths to divert attention from the party’s acts of senseless violence. The information minister also echoed this in a press conference, claiming the PTI was fabricating baseless stories. The interior minister accused K-P Chief Minister Gandapur of making “baseless inflammatory statements against the institutions, using the provincial assembly as a platform to distort facts and spread blatant lies” about the federal government and the state institutions.
He explained that the PTI protest happened when some high-profile foreign delegations were in Islamabad. He added that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on 21 November had directed the federal government to take all necessary measures to maintain law and order in the federal capital. The PTI was offered to hold rally at Sangjani in line with a court order, he said in the statement, adding that the party was also given the concessions to even meet with jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, yet they violated the court order and forced entry into the Red Zone.
“Throughout the protest march, from Peshawar to Red Zone in Islamabad, Naqvi said, violent protestors of the PTI aggressively engaged the LEAs, repeatedly using firearms and all sorts of other weaponry including steel sling shots, stun grenades, tear gas shells and nail-studded batons. “The violent protest was primarily orchestrated and logistically and financially sustained and supported by the resources of the government of K-P,” the statement said. “PTI’s protest included violent and trained miscreant elements including many “illegal Afghan nationals,” he added.
“These miscreants, employed as violent vanguard, comprised approximately 1,500 hardcore fighters, working directly under absconder and proclaimed offender Murad Saeed,” the interior ministry’s official statement continued. After the PTI protest was thwarted, the minister said, the “PTI and its social media propagandists resorted to planned and coordinated massive fake propaganda of deaths caused by LEAs’ so as to divert attention from its senseless, violent and failed activity”.
He pointed out that the major hospitals of the capital city had “rubbished reports of alleged gunshot casualties inflicted by LEAs.” However, he noted, a sustained fabricated campaign, using old and AI generated clips was being viciously undertaken by the PTI, joined by other inimical elements. Alarmingly, the statement read, certain elements of foreign media also fell prey to this fake news and propaganda without any credible evidence. The government functionaries including ministers as well as Islamabad Chief Commissioner and senior police officials, had repeatedly explained the actual situation.
“The PTI and its social media propagandists are bent upon creating divisions and confusion within society,” he said, adding that such elements, whether inside the country or abroad, “will surely be held accountable under the relevant laws and no one will be allowed to sow” the seed of hatred.
“This violent mob not only attacked security forces but also set multiple police vehicles on fire, showcased fire arms, burnt trees and police tents, damaged properties and created terror among the common citizens,” he added.
He said that the Pakistan Army was deployed in Islamabad under Article 245 of the Constitution only to secure key government installations and foreign diplomats in the sensitive Red Zone, while ensuring a secure environment for high-profile foreign dignitaries, visiting the country.
The minister further explained that the LEAs, comprising police and Rangers did not use live ammunition to disperse this violent mob, while Army neither came in direct clash with those miscreants nor did it was employed for riot control.
