Kyrgyzstan Violence: Misinformation Being Spread Through Social Media, Says FM Dar

'More flights will be arranged to bring back Pakistani students who choose to do so.'

Kyrgyzstan Violence: Misinformation Being Spread Through Social Media, Says FM Dar

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar stated on Sunday that he had been informed by his Kyrgyz counterpart, Jeenbek Kulubayev, that everything in Bishkek was peaceful and that social media had been utilized to inflate the situation. 

Speaking at a news conference, Dar quoted Kulubayev as saying that 16 international students—including four or five Pakistanis—were wounded in the attacks on Friday. He also called the allegations of purported deaths "wholly untrue."

He pointed out that social media is being used to provoke people to violence, adding that the Kyrgyz government has stated that hired bloggers are spreading rumors. 

Dar stated that they had intended to depart for Bishkek, but Kulubayev informed him that there was no need to do so because the situation had been under control. 

According to the foreign ministry, no incidents have been recorded since Friday, adding that more flights will be arranged to bring back Pakistani students who choose to do so. 

Speaking on the occasion, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated that the event was not intended to attack Pakistan since it arose from a quarrel between locals and some Egyptian students, which later affected people from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.

Without pinpointing the PTI, he claimed that a political party that had earlier addressed a letter to the IMF against Pakistan's interests had initiated a social media campaign to spread false information about the situation in Bishkek.

Tarar stated that no students had been slain or raped and that a specific political group was actively instilling false and harmful information in the thoughts of students' parents.