ISPR tells Imran to stop making false charges

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Army on Monday termed allegations levelled by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan against a senior military official as highly irresponsible and baseless asking him to stop giving such false statements.

“Chairman PTI has levelled highly irresponsible and baseless allegations against a serving senior military officer without any evidence,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

The media wing of Pakistan Army maintained that the fabricated and malicious allegations are extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable. This has been a consistent pattern for last one year wherein military and intelligence agencies officials are targeted with insinuations and sensational propaganda for the furtherance of political objectives.

The ISPR also advised Imran Khan to avail legal avenues and stop making false allegations. “We ask the political leader concerned to make a recourse to legal avenues and stop making false allegations,” the ISPR statement said.

It made it clear that the institution reserves the right to take legal course of action against patently false and malafide statements and propaganda. Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also strongly condemned PTI chairman’s statement saying: “Imran Niazi’s act of routinely maligning and threatening Pakistan Army and Intelligence Agency for the sake of political gains is highly condemnable. His levelling of allegations against General Faisal Naseer and officers of our Intelligence Agency cannot be allowed and will not be tolerated.”

Former president and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, in his statement, said that one person had crossed all limits to defame institutions, which will not be tolerated anymore. “The attempt to discredit institutions has exposed the true face of a man as it’s now enough is enough. After listening to the foreign agent’s speech, no patriot can even think of following him,” he said.

Zardari said the allegations against the brave and distinguished officers of the Pakistan Army was actually an attack on the institution with which the whole of Pakistan stands. “A person is fooling his innocent workers with lies and deceit, I am seeing the downfall of this person,” he said.

The former president said this is the country where we all have to be buried, we will not allow one person to play with our values and our country. “A person is bent on destroying our ancestors, our children and our country, which we will not allow,” he said.