ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Supreme Leader Asad Qaiser on Sunday condemned federal ministers Khawaja Asif and Attaullah Tarar for criticizing his party for allegedly engaging in an “insulting campaign” against martyrs of the Pakistan Army and security forces personnel, saying they were adopting “misleading propaganda” against PTI.
“The misleading propaganda of Khawaja Asif and Ata Tarar about the martyrs of the Pakistan Army is regrettable,” Qaiser said while talking to reporters.
Information Minister Tarar had earlier warned of action against PTI’s social media team, saying it was behind accounts attacking the Pakistan Army and soldiers who were martyred in North Waziristan a day earlier.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Asif, without naming anyone, said some people “taunted the martyrs and compared them to returning officers”.
“Those who issue statements against martyrs must be associated with terrorists,” Asif said during a media discussion earlier in the day.
However, PTI leader Qaiser hit back at the two federal ministers and said his party has always acknowledged the sacrifices made by soldiers defending the country’s borders.
“Those who use the martyrdom of soldiers for their political gains are not supporters of the nation,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The former speaker of the National Assembly went on to say that “the nation is proud of every soldier who protects the country”.
Meanwhile, PTI leader Barrister Saif also condemned the Pakistan Mulsim League-Nawaz (PML-N) saying that the ruling party was dragging martyrs into politics for political gains.
“PTI is a patriotic party which has not abandoned the party of Pakistan in difficult times,” he said, denying any involvement on behalf of the party in smear campaigns against the martyrs.
Taking a jibe at the party founded by Imran Khan, the defense minister said PTI has lost its identity and it is not clear whether it is PTI or the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
He stated that many political parties had their disagreements with the establishment, but none of them stooped to such behavior.
“The type of letters written to the United States are anti-Pakistan,” Asif said.
Meanwhile, Tarar claimed that PTI’s social media team was behind the accounts that campaigned against the martyrs, adding that such behavior was intolerable and the people behind the campaign had been identified.
“I condemn the abusive social media campaign launched by a political party against the martyrs and their victims,” the information minister said during a press conference in Lahore on Sunday.
He called on the nation to unite for national unity and security, saying that some “red lines should not be crossed” and stressed that those who wage such campaigns will be identified and brought to justice through the legal process.
Tarar added that many social media accounts were operated outside Pakistan and the followers of these accounts also presided over Pakistan.
“Those who mock the sacrifices of the martyrs do not deserve any concessions. Criticize politics a hundred times, but do not do it against the martyrs,” he urged. “Insulting and mocking the martyrs is not acceptable under any circumstances.”
The federal minister said the government was paying tribute to the sacrifices made by the martyrs in the Waziristan incident.
At least seven Pakistan Army soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel and a captain, have been martyred after fighting with terrorists when they attacked a security force post in North Waziristan district.
