HYDERABAD: Leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Hyderabad chapter have condemned ongoing smear campaign against Pakistan Army and said that some anti-Pakistan elements are trying to take advantage of the political turmoil in the country to create gulf between people and their army by circulating provocative posts and comments on social media.

Khawand Bux Jahejo, Q. Mohammad Hakim and Musarrat Iqbal said at a press conference at local press club on Wednesday that these elements were attempting to incite PTI workers to raise anti-army slogans during protests. PTI was a peace loving party and believed that a strong army guaranteed Pakistan’s integrity and peace, they said.

They said that every party worker respected and loved army. Politically provocative graffiti had also appeared on walls which was apparently a bid to malign PTI, they said.

They said that PTI had made it clear that the party had nothing to do with this vicious campaign. PTI expressed complete solidarity with army when historic protests were held across the country on April 10 in a peaceful atmosphere on the call of party chairman Imran Khan, they said.

They said that people of Hyderabad voluntarily turned up in large numbers in the protest at Hyder Chowk and women, children and elderly remained completely peaceful throughout the proceedings.

They said that an unpleasant incident took place towards the end of the gathering when most of the protesters had dispersed peacefully. They learnt through social media that someone had torched party flag of MQM-P and started probe into the incident so that action was taken accordingly, they said.

They regretted that MQM-P Hyderabad chapter’s representatives blamed PTI for the incident without bothering to verify facts. MQM-P also announced protest the next day at Hyder Chowk, they said.

They said that later the youth who had burnt the flag uploaded a video on social media in which he apologised and stated that he was not a member of PTI and that it was his individual act. It had hurt feelings of millions of party workers and it could have vitiated peace of the city, they said.

They said that they controlled party workers’ sentiments after this incident but the MQM-P’s incompetent leadership did not demonstrate responsible attitude.

They said that since people of Hyderabad had given their verdict in favour of PTI and Imran Khan, it had baffled MQM-P that now feared to face defeat in the city.

They said that MQM-P and other political parties should not mistake PTI’s desire for peace as weakness and urged law enforcement agencies to take action against those who took law into their own hands.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2022