By Hamza Ameer Islamabad 19th August : The problem of social media sites becoming overflowing with negative trends that target the Pakistan Army and the Army chief and the armed forces was discussed in the Pakistani Upper House (Senate), where both the Opposition and the government benches launched a series of harsh accusations against each other over defaming the army establishment of the nation.
In the heated debate, Treasury benches slammed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for deliberately conducting social media campaigns in which dirty discussions as well as scathing comments are directed at the Pakistan Army chief and the military establishment.
In contrast the Opposition claimed that the government of trying to create a division between the PTI and the military.
The controversy erupted after Opposition Senators walked out against the suspected abuse of Shahbaz Gill, PTI Chief of Staff who was detained for making allegations of seditious remarks about the military.
According to Gill, he was brutally and beaten in prison by police, causing his health state deteriorated.he was shifted to a hospital while under police custody.
The issue was an important topic of debate in the Senate in which both sides accused one another of deliberately attacking the nation’s military and also the Army chief with a slew of online campaigns.
Inquiring about the special treatment accorded to PTI chairman Imran Khan, the top leader of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Sherry Rehman, stated: “Other political leaders have been shady and have endured many years in jail.Asif Ali Zardari served over 11 years in jail, while his sister Faryal Talpur was nabbed in an army-grade car in the middle of the night and taken to the hospital as if she was an armed terrorist.Maryam Nawaz too had a similar experience.”
Rehman also raised doubts about the claim of a change in regime by the US of Imran Khan Rehman, who claimed Khan’s party employed an American consulting firm, owned by a former CIA station chiefs in Islamabad to help lobby and advise the party on relations between Pakistan and America.
She claimed that this occurred at a point that Khan had already begun his anti-US narrative in the public.
“PTI’s insufficiency has been exposed more clearly.The party engaged an American consulting firm called Grenier Consulting in 2021, that was managed by an ex- CIA station head in Islamabad to help lobby and advise the party on the Pak-US relationship.
“Remember that this was the time an era when PTI was in the throne, and Imran Khan was delivering speeches in opposition to the US and slowly isolating Pakistan with its foreign policy in ruin,” Rehman said.
On the other side, PTI leadership lashed out at the government for trying to create a division between the PTI and the army.
Social media campaigns that target Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa and the entire military establishment have been going on since Khan was removed from the throne.The hashtags and campaigns against the military have led both the military establishment and the government to take action on those who are behind them.
Numerous arrests have already been made and the government claims that anti-army sentiments were introduced into people’s minds through Khan.
The parties of the government have demanded Khan should be detained and tried in the case of sedition.
That would also lead to his exclusion from the political arena.
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