Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday said the PTI cannot differentiate between “anti-establishment and anti-army” politics, highlighting that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif always engaged in the former and not the latter.
Yesterday, the Punjab Assembly adopted a resolution to ban incarcerated PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan and his party for being “anti-state”.
Last week, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry assailed Imran for creating and spreading an “anti-army” rhetoric, stating that such narratives were now out of the realm of politics and had become a “national security threat”.
“People hate the establishment, but they love Pakistan and its army. The PTI’s narrative against the army and its leadership is creating political damage for them and could cause the party irreparable harm,” said Sanaullah while speaking on Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’.
He added that MQM founder Altaf Hussain’s hours-long speeches against the establishment continued for years, but once he said “Pakistan Murdabad” (death to Pakistan), his politics ended.
Referring to the martyrdom of army and officials in terrorism incidents, the PML-N leader said, “PTI delegation doesn’t attend funerals of martyrs and they don’t console their families”.
Their narrative on social media also “aligns with Indian media”, added the prime minister’s adviser.
“The appearance of PTI leaders on Indian media and interviews on it has caused them major political harm,” Sanaullah maintained.
However, PTI leader Barrister Ali Zafar disagreed with Sanaullah. “No Pakistani leader is anti-state. It is regrettable when people accuse someone of being so. However, it is easy to label anyone anti-state, and people have been labelled so in the past.”
In response to the interviews of Noreen Niazi and Aleema Khanum - Imran’s sisters - to separate Indian news channels, Zafar said, “I am no one’s spokesperson. There is no harm in giving one’s opinion to any news channel, but this is my personal opinion.”
“In my capacity, I might not opt to give an interview to any [Indian] news channel that generates anti-Pakistan news. But this doesn’t mean I condemn their [Imran’s sisters] choices. It is a personal choice.”
The PTI, earlier this week, stated that “further attempts to malign” party founder and former prime minister Imran Khan in a bid to diminish his popularity would only cause his popularity to rise with each narrative orchestrated against him.
The party presented its stance during a rally held at Peshawar’s Sports Complex, where its leadership was joined by its political ally, the Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP). Both parties expressed their solidarity with Imran as they took exception to the recent remarks made against him, urging that “those responsible be held to account” to prevent similar remarks in the future.
