ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army on Tuesday warned it would ensure stern action is taken against “malicious” propaganda and baseless allegations against the country’s armed forces, days after a series of videos emerged on social media showing soldiers beating up cops after a confrontation. 
According to the information available in the public domain, a brawl between army soldiers and Punjab police personnel broke out in the Pakistani city of Bahawalnagar last week. The scuffle reportedly took place after a soldier’s relative was arrested by police without the necessary paperwork.
The army said on Friday that the issue was “promptly addressed and resolved” by the military and police authorities, without sharing details of the incident. Videos of the altercations, however, prompted criticism of the army on social media platforms. 
Punjab Inspector General Police Dr. Usman Anwar had blamed social media for blowing the incident out of proportion, saying it had benefited the country’s enemies who were trying to create the impression that Pakistani state institutions were at odds with one another. 
“Forum noted with concern the malicious propaganda campaign meant to demoralize the Armed Forces,” the army’s media wing said in a statement released after a meeting of the army’s top brass, headed by its chief General Syed Asim Munir, took place in Rawalpindi. 
The army’s media wing added it had also noted that baseless allegations against security forces were part of a larger design to drive a wedge between the people and Pakistan’s armed forces. 
“We will not allow such efforts to succeed and as per the law and constitution, stern action will be ensured,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
Similar incidents have also been recorded in Pakistan in the past where army officials roughed up police personnel.
In September 2016, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police registered a complaint against army officials accused of beating four Motorway Police employees after the latter issued them a traffic ticket for reckless driving.
Pakistan’s powerful military has ruled the country directly for over 30 years since it gained independence in 1947. Even when not in power, the military remains the invisible guiding hand of Pakistani politics, with an outsized role in decision-making related to foreign affairs, national security and the economy. 
The army, however, says it no longer interferes in political affairs.

PESHAWAR: Heavy rains and lightning strikes have killed at least 57 and wounded dozens of others across Pakistan during the last five days, the country’s national and provincial disaster management authorities said on Tuesday.
The downpours, which began on Friday, have damaged several homes across the South Asian country while more showers are expected across Pakistan this week, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said in a statement this week.
Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has reported the highest death toll in the country from rains during the last five days, 21, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) KP said. In Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan areas, 36 people died in the last five days in rain-related incidents, the NDMA added.
“In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province 21 people have been killed and 34 injured in the last five days due to accidents caused by heavy rain,” the PDMA said in a report. 
Due to continuous downpours in different parts of the northwestern province, 344 houses have been damaged due to the rain, the report said. 
The PDMA said KP’s districts of Lower and Upper Dir, Khyber, Chitral Lower, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, Malakand, Tank, Mardan and Karak were the province’s worst-affected by the rains. 
It said KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had directed all the district administrations and departments concerned to provide medical assistance and relief to families affected by the rains.