ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday urged not to make the appointment of the army chief a political debate.

While briefing the media, he said there was no recommendation process going on regarding the appointment of the new army chief.

The army chief’s appointment is due in November this year and Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar had already clarified that COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa would retire on November 29, 2022.

The defence minister, while talking about the malicious campaign against Pakistan Army on Twitter, said that 18 Indian Twitter accounts were involved in the anti-army smear campaign following the copter crash.

The minister claimed that the propaganda was a joint project of the PTI and India against the Pakistan Army. Their channels say, “the work Imran Khan is doing for us, even if we had spent billions of dollars we would not have been able to create the kind of network to safeguard and advance India’s interests in Pakistan as how the PTI and its leader is doing,” the defence minister said.

Asif claimed that while the nation was mourning the Lasbela helicopter tragedy, the PTI’s social media accounts, with the help of Indian and other offshore social media accounts, were running a “smear campaign” against the country and the army.

Referring to reports run in the media a day ago, Asif said an investigation into the campaign had found that 529 Pakistani accounts, 18 Indian accounts, and 33 accounts from other countries were involved.

“This investigation is reaching its conclusion,” he said, adding that action would be taken on the results in accordance with the law and the Constitution.

The minister said, “The law has come into action,” and claimed that in the coming days, “more facts” would be unveiled.

A malicious social media propaganda was started following the martyrdom of army officers in the Balochistan helicopter crash — which took place on August 1.

The defence minister added that the Lasbela helicopter crash was an unfortunate event, and it caused grief to the nation.

“But the entire nation is ashamed after the tweets that came to the fore.”

The defence minister further said that earlier PTI Chairman Imran Khan was not speaking about his party leader Shahbaz Gill’s statement — that allegedly incited hate against the army.

He said Imran Khan had witnessed that Gill’s statements did not give his party any political advantage nor did it benefit him in any other way, while adding that after those events, the PTI chairman distanced himself from Gill’s comments.

The defence minister termed the PTI’s alleged campaign, party leader Shahbaz Gill’s comments regarding the army and subsequent claims of him being tortured in police custody as “diversion [ary]” tactics to remove attention from the verdict in the foreign funding case.

He said the PTI had gone far after losing power and the leaders had crossed all boundaries in their statements.

Taking a jibe at the PTI leaders for claiming that Gill’s mental state is disturbed, Asif said that since power was taken away from the PTI, “they have lost their senses”.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022