The issue of social media platforms getting flooded with trends against Pakistan Army, the Army chief and armed forces was addressed in Pakistan's Upper House (Senate), where both the Opposition and the government benches hurled strong accusations agaist each other for working towards maligning the military establishment of the country.
During the heated debate, treasury benches lashed out at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for deliberately running social media campaigns in which, dirty talks, abuses and shameful comments are hurled at the Pakistan Army chief and the military establishment.
On the other hand, the Opposition accused the government of trying to create a rift between the PTI and the military.
The debate surfaced after the Opposition Senators staged a walkout against the alleged torture of Shahbaz Gill, PTI Chief of Staff, who was arrested for making alleged seditious comments related to the military.
According to Gill, he was brutally tortured in jail by the police due to which his health condition deteriorated and he had to be shifted to the hospital under police custody.
The issue became a major point of argument in the Senate as both sides accused each other of deliberately targeting the country's armed forces and the Army chief through malicious social media campaigns.
Questioning the special treatment given to PTI chairman Imran Khan, senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Sherry Rehman, said: "Other political leaders have compromised and spent years in jail. Asif Ali Zardari spent more than 11 years in jail, his sister Faryal Talpur was picked up in a military-grade vehicle in the middle of the night from the hospital like a terrorist. Maryam Nawaz too had a similar experience."
Rehman also raised questions over the US-led regime change allegation of Imran Khan, stating that Khan's party hired an American consulting firm, owned by former CIA station chief in Islamabad, to lobby and advise the party on Pak-US relations.
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She said this was done at a time when Khan had already started his anti-US regime change narrative in public.
"PTI's gross hypocrisy has been exposed even more acutely. They hired an American consulting firm, Grenier Consulting in 2021, which was run by a former CIA station chief in Islamabad, to lobby and advise the party on Pak-US relation.
"Remember, this was when the PTI was still in power while Imran Khan was making speeches against the US and slowly isolating Pakistan with its foreign policy in ruins," Rehman said.
On the other hand, PTI leadership lashed out at the government for trying to create a rift between the PTI and the army.
Social media campaigns targeting Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa and the whole military establishment are going on since the time Khan was ousted from power. The campaigns and trending hashtags against the army have prompted the establishment and the government to crackdown on the people behind them.
Many arrests have already been made, and the government insists that anti-army sentiments have been injected into people's minds by Khan.
The government parties have demanded that Khan should be arrested and put to trial on charges of sedition, which should also make way towards his disqualification.
Pakistan poll body gears up for early general elections
Pakistan is in a state of severe political unrest as former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was ousted in April through a no-confidence vote in Parliament, has kept political temperatures high with massive public rallies and protests, demanding immediate and early general elections in the country.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has started preparations for the next general elections, directing its officials to prepare the lists of polling staff, stations and complete procedures to conduct the polls.
As per sources, the poll body has also decided to train the election staff and make then versed with modern lines in relation to the general elections.
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The ECP's decision to speed up the process comes at a time when the incumbent Shehbaz Sharif government and his coalition partners, have clearly and repeatedly announced that the elections will be held after completion of its tenure next year.
However, voices within the coalition, including Pakistan People Party (PPP), have recommended the early polls.
On the other hand, Khan has been staging massive public gatherings in different parts of the country, calling on the government and the ECP to announce early elections, stating that he would never accept the current government as it came into power through a regime change conspiracy led by the US and implemented through his political opponents to oust his administration.
The sources further revealed that ECP is looking towards holding the general election in October , which many believe, would be a win-win situation for the former premier as he stands as the most popular leader among the masses.
As per sources in the ECP, the process of delimitation of the constituencies had been completed.
The ECP had invited public objections and suggestions regarding the delimitation and had issued a final list of 266 constituencies of National Assembly and 593 constituencies of the four provincial Assemblies.
On the other hand, the coalition government is focused on getting Khan disqualified through different cases including Foreign Funding case, Tosha Khana case, anti-establishment social media campaign case and on charges of corruption.
The government is faced with a major political challenge by Khan as he continues to gather massive crowds of his supporters in public gatherings.
His political popularity has gone sky high as his narrative of regime change has been received very well by the public.
While the current government and its coalition partners have rejected Khan's demand of early elections and said that elections in the country will be held after completion of its tenure, the ECP's steps to complete all procedures for elections at a fast pace and the intent to hold early polls by October, certainly raises the question on Shehbaz Sharif's government time in power.
