ISLAMABAD: Pakistani defense minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday an investigation had found 529 Pakistani, 18 Indian and 33 accounts from other countries involved in a recent online smear campaign against the Pakistan army, promising to punish culprits who he said were linked to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of ex-premier Imran Khan.
Khan was ousted from power in April in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence that he blames on a foreign conspiracy hatched by the United States in collaboration with rival politicians. Both deny the charge. Khan and his supporters have since variously expressed disappointment that the military and army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa did not support him against the alleged foreign plot.
Following Khan’s ouster, anti-army trends have become a common occurrence on social media. A hashtag calling for Bajwa to step down as army chief regularly trends online and recently, a smear campaign was also launched against military officers who died in a helicopter crash last week. The government subsequently announced a probe into the campaign.
Addressing the issue at a press conference in Islamabad on Wednesday, Asif said 18 Indian accounts were found to be involved in the anti-army social media campaign, which he blamed on the PTI’s social media team and Khan.
“The entire nation is ashamed ... after the tweets that came to the fore ... there are such people found among us who can fall so low for their political motives,” the minister said, referring to the online campaign following the helicopter crash in which six army officers were killed, including a top general.
“This investigation is reaching its conclusion,” Asif said, adding that action would be taken in accordance with the law and the constitution.
He said the data was “confirmed and verified,” calling the online campaign a “joint project” of the PTI and India.
India, Pakistan’s neighbor and arch-rival, has not yet commented on Asif’s accusations. The PTI has denied it has anything to do with the smear campaign and says it is being run by the government in an attempt to frame the PTI.
In a televised address last Wednesday, Khan dismissed claims his party was against the military, and said the impression was being created as part of a “plot” to decimate the PTI.
“The party is at the federal level, it is in all the provinces, the largest vote bank is of this party … it is the largest party in Pakistan right now,” Khan said. “A conspiracy is being hatched and it is being hatched by those people who are involved in the foreign conspiracy, collaborators … It is being portrayed that we and the army are against each other.”
“Attempts are being made to break the biggest party of the country, they are also trying to break our people so that they [PTI] become so weak by the [next] elections,” the ex-PM said.