Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan asked his social media teams to intensify propaganda against Punjab police and other law enforcement agencies and state security institutions in a Zoom meeting. The former premier has emphasised that his keyboard warriors, especially women, should accuse police personnel and army officials of sexually harassing female workers of the party in their video messages and social media posts, The Friday Times (TFT) has learned.
Sources who were part of the Zoom meeting confirmed to TFT that during the meeting Khan told the social media warriors to disassociate the party from the people who were involved in the destruction that took place at Jinnah House and recorded the statement against party leadership after being arrested.
"Emotional campaigns should be initiated for PTI women who have been caught, and trends should be made on social media where the police and other law enforcement agencies should be accused of sexually assaulting women," multiple sources participating in the meeting quoted the former premier as saying.
Sources maintained that during the meeting, Imran Khan also advised women and young people who belong to PTI to "make videos of themselves being sexually assaulted".
"The campaign against the Army should be stopped for the time being, as the party is in hot water now, and only the police should be defamed," one of the sources quoted Khan as saying.
IG briefed PM, and CM about this in the law and order meeting
A senior official who attended the law and order meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi told TFT that during the law and order meeting, IGP Dr Usman informed the participants of the meeting that, as per intelligence reports, PTI is all set to launch a maligning campaign, especially against Punjab Police and other law enforcement agencies, in which female workers who were arrested will make videos and claim that they are sexually harassed, although all of them are kept in women police stations.
Sources maintained that during the meeting, PM Shehbaz Sharif and CM Mohsin Naqvi advised the IGP and other law enforcement agencies to be extra careful and not give them any room or margin to start any such false campaign.
During the meeting, it was also decided that people who were involved in violence and destroying Jinnah House and other installations would be made accountable and dealt with with an iron hand.
"People who stormed into Jinnah House will face cases under the Army Act, and people who were standing outside and were there will face cases under the Terrorism Act," a senior official who was part of the meeting told TFT.
He maintained that people who attacked Jinnah House and stormed into it are likely to face 14 years of imprisonment, while those who were present outside will face imprisonment for up to 7 years under the Anti Terrorism Act, 1997.
More women were identified as leading the miscreants
A senior police official told TFT that the process of identifying the miscreants is going on in full swing and more women are being indemnified who were involved in leading the miscreants, which included MNA Rubina Jamil, Ashima Shujja, Robina Shoaib, former president of PTI women's wing Nazia Ali Gillani, Nadra Umar, and Azra Khalil.
"The arrest of these women is on the cards, as we have documented evidence in the form of videos, etc., in which they were leading the miscreants who stormed into Jinnah House," a senior official said.
PTI says no such Zoom meeting took place
Speaking to TFT, Deputy Secretary of Information PTI Hassaan Khawar said he is not aware of any such instructions and does not attend social media meetings. "Azhar Mashwani sahib might be aware of it if any such meeting took place, as I don’t deal with social media. Maybe such a meeting had taken place, but Azhar Mashwani could tell you."
However, Azhar Mashwani, the focal person for PTI chairman Imran Khan's social media, said that no meeting of the PTI's social media teams was held by chairman Imran Khan in the past three months, and these were "baseless and fake rumours". "There has been no such meeting of the social media team," Mashwani reiterated.