displayed, its candidate, Aleem Khan, describes this an isolated attempt by party workers aspiring for tickets in the local bodies election and that it was not done on his direction.
The PML-N says the video under question was prematurely released by somebody from within, not knowing that Ayaz Sadiq had directed cutting the portion about the army since he didn’t want to politicise it.
The News spoke to both the candidates for their versions and neither of them took responsibility for orchestrating this campaign and instead shifted the blame to the ‘workers’.
Aleem Khan said these posters were designed and displayed by workers at the union council level to celebrate the Defence Day on September 6 and they did so without his consent.
Even the PML-N workers had also displayed such posters, Aleem argued, “but I wouldn’t say that it was done on the direction of the party leadership.” He then shared with The News a PML-N sponsored poster prominently displaying the picture of Gen Raheel Sharif atop along with martyrs decorated with Nishan-e-Haider. Mian Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz have also been pictured at the bottom of this poster.
However, contrary to the PTI’s poster, the PML-N’s was purely in the context of Defence Day, not for NA-122 elections.
Ayaz Sadiq, when contacted, tried to downplay its contents. “Some youngsters working for the PML-N’s social media approached me for recording my message and I did that,” Ayaz said.
Asked why he considered it important to urge his constituents that supporting the army means voting the PML-N, Ayaz feigned ignorance about this particular line.
Meanwhile, another PML-N lawmaker approached this correspondent to clarify the position.
“Somebody from our team aired this message soon after it was recorded, not realising that it was subject to editing,” said Ayaz Sadiq’s fellow lawmaker. “We have done this recording well before the PTI poster appeared in public,” she said.
Ayaz Sadiq was unwilling to involve the army in the election campaign hence that part was edited and the altered version doesn’t seek the public support in the name of the army, according to the woman lawmaker. Dragging the army into politics was a wrong idea and that was the reason we altered it, she said.