PTI social media activist apologises for smear campaign against Pak Army

ISLAMABAD: Months after a smear campaign was launched against the Pakistan Army, a user, who was repotedly a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) social media team, has apologised over his conduct of propagating against martyrs of the armed forces through his fake Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Abdul Rehman Kamal, a resident of Charsadda, said that he had been an active social media member of PTI operating from Dubai, UAE.

Taking to his Twitter, he admitted that he was indulged in posting inappropriate language and propaganda against the martyrs of armed forces on his Twitter account registered with the fake name of Raheela Sadpara.

Kamal had been residing in Dubai and was a member of the PTI’s social media team for the last six years. He had fake accounts, including three on Twitter and one on Facebook. After realising his mistake, Kamal said, he regretted his past conduct and vowed not to use any unsuitable language in his posts in future.

He also apologised to the bereaved families of martyrs for his offending posts. Last year, several social media trends vilifying the army and its officers were promoted in the recent past.

After the chopper crash in Lasbela last year, a section of social media activists and certain political zealots launched an abhorrent and unacceptable online campaign to advance their personal and political malice, which drew a strong reaction from people belonging to all walks of life, political leadership and the state institutions. The ruling coalition blamed the PTI’s social media team for launching the smear campaign at the behest of PTI Chairman Imran Khan. In August 2022, the military expressed strong disapproval of “false propaganda and insensitive comments on social media”. Later, the FIA constituted a team to trace and arrest those behind the campaigns.