PTI to move high courts over harassment of its social media activists: Asad Umar
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PTI's central secretary general Asad Umar on Tuesday said the party had drafted a petition regarding the alleged harassment of its social media activists and would file it in the high courts tomorrow.
The development comes after recent reports that online activists associated with the PTI's social media wing were allegedly being harassed in the aftermath of party chairman Imran Khan's ouster from the prime minister's office via a no-confidence movement.
Azhar Mashwani, the former focal person for digital media in Punjab, claimed earlier today that the Federal Investigation Agency was harassing PTI social media volunteers across the country. He had called on the party leadership to take the matter to the courts.
The PTI-affiliated Insaf Lawyers Forum also called on party chairman Imran Khan in a meeting today in which a "deep concern" was expressed over the alleged incidents of PTI workers, particularly social media workers, being harassed.
The home of Dr Arslan Khalid, Khan's focal person on digital media, was allegedly raided in Lahore by 11 unidentified men in the wee hours of Sunday. PTI leader Dr Shahbaz Gill had said that the raid was anticipated and so Dr Khalid was sent somewhere else.
The purported raid had drawn concerned reactions from senior PTI leadership.
It is pertinent to mention here that the military has come under criticism this week on social media forums, and Twitter trends against the armed forces and its leadership have seen intense activity.
Slogans critical of the army were also chanted during country-wide protests staged on Sunday in support of Khan.
Meanwhile, a meeting of Pakistan Army officials earlier today took note of the recent criticism directed at the institution on social media and expressed complete confidence in the leadership's "well-considered stance to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law".
"National security of Pakistan is sacrosanct. Pakistan Army has always stood by the state institutions to guard it and always will, without any compromise," said the military's media wing in a statement.
