ISLAMABAD :Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Wednesday said both Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi tasked the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) social media teams to troll the Army top brass and its martyrs for diverting public attention away from its foreign (prohibited) funding which had been proved after eight years.
“PTI did trolling of the Army’s martyrs. Bushra Bibi would have asked ‘Arslan Beta (son)’ to run malicious campaign on ‘Shuhda’ (martyrs) when the party foreign funding came under discussion on public platforms. These directives directly came from Bani Gala,” she said while addressing a news conference here.
Referring to the PTI’s leader Shehbaz Gill statement in the media, she said Imran Khan was playing a “dangerous game” as call for mutiny in the Army’s rank and file was a red line which nobody would be allowed to cross at any cost.
The minister said Imran Khan’s spokesman and chief of staff had started admitting that a script of his interview with ARY news channel was given by the PTI’s chief.
“He (Gill) will become an approver in this (sedition) case,” she added.
She said those who trolled the Army officers and its martyrs had also got caught and started admitting that the campaign was run on the directives of PTI leadership.
The joint investigation team probing a “malicious campaign” against the Army martyrs on social media will soon bring facts before the public to prove who is the architect of this entire saga,” she added.
“Enough is enough,” she said while announcing zero tolerance against those who would try to incite division within the state institution, and make efforts to spread chaos and anarchy in the country.
She, on the occasion, played some clips of Imran Khan’s interviews with various local and international media channels in which he spewed venom against the state institutions, to assert that the PTI’s chief was a “fascist person” who hell bent upon destroying the country in exchange of the funding received by his party from foreign nationals and firms.
“These are a few statements of Imran Khan, rest is the history,” she said, adding the current campaign against the Army martyrs reflected his fascism and the “dirty politics” which entirely based on hatred, deception, lies and anarchy.
Marriyum said Imran Khan was reaping what he had sown in the politics i.e. hatred and animosity.
“No patriot can even think of trolling the Pakistan Army soldiers and officers who sacrificed their lives while carrying out rescue and relief activities in the flood-hit areas,” she remarked.
She regretted that Imran Khan could use the KPK’s government helicopter for creating chaos and anarchy in the country, but not to visit the flood-affected areas and people in Balochistan and South Punjab on instructions of his wife who barred him from attending a funeral or a place where deaths occurred.
The minister lashed out at Imran Khan for claiming that an “illusionary” media cell of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in collaboration with the government was involved in running a campaign against the state institutions.
She said Imran Khan got scared by the reaction came from the families of the Army martyrs and his body language suggested that he was frightened by the decision in the prohibited funding case by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Marriyum said it had been proved that Imran Khan did receive prohibited funding and spent even donations for the political and personal purposes.
Imran Khan tried to sabotage democracy, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and the national economy in exchange of the foreign funding, she added.
“The party of a foreign agent has been declared a “foreign-aided party” under the Political Party Ordinance, 2002 and the Election Act, 2017,” she remarked.
The minister said Imran Khan was trying to mislead the nation by consistently telling lies over a case that was investigated by the ECP for eight years.
Marriyum said Imran Khan blamed others for corruption whenever his robbery came to the fore. The PTI received funds from Wootton Cricket Limited, Bristol engineering services, Eplanet Trustees and Romita Shetty (an Indian businesswoman) from 2013, she said, adding the companies set up in the United States included 34 foreign nationals.
She said Imran Khan was now afraid that his party would be banned, but it was him who destroyed the party and it was high time for the workers to ask him as to why he disgraced the PTI and himself by receiving the foreign funding.
The minister said the nation including youth and overseas Pakistanis would be informed as to where these foreign funds were spent by Imran Khan.
Marriyum said Imran Khan had no comparison with Nawaz Sharif who became prime minister thrice but never compromised over the Constitution.
From the first day, the Constitutional supremacy was the mainstay of PML-N and Nawaz Sharif’s ideology.
Despite his illegal ouster from the power, Nawaz Sharif did not give calls for mutiny and division within the state institutions.
He only served the country with dedication and gave country the motorways, and CPEC projects, and made the country loadshedding free.
On the contrary, Imran Khan tried to disintegrate the country by attacking the federating units, sold the Kashmir and ruined the economy.
Youth were rendered jobless, poverty increased massively and, above all severe restrictions were imposed on the media, she added.
She said Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz were always on the forefront to pay tributes to the martyrs of Army who sacrificed their lives for protecting the borders.
The minister advised youth not to become part of the PTI’s chief grand conspiracy against the country and refrain from participating in the social media campaign against the state institutions.
To a question, she said Imran Khan sold gifts from Toshakhana by revising the policy to benefit himself and his courtiers.
He did violate the law in Toshakhana issue and would be held accountable in this regard.
There were court orders which barred the government from off airing any TV channels, she said while responding to another query.
She added that the PEMRA acted independently and issued a show-cause notice to the ARY for violating different Articles of Constitution and media rules. It should not be linked with democracy and freedom of expression, she added.