Army chief says ‘anarchy’ being spread through social media in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani army chief General Syed Asim Munir on Thursday spoke out against social media users in the country, saying online platforms were being used to spread “anarchy,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. 
Munir’s remarks come days after the military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry, in a veiled reference to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of jailed ex-premier Imran Khan, accused “digital terrorists” of making the military’s anti-militancy efforts controversial using social media platforms.
Khan’s popularity, which persists even from behind bars, has been fueled by social media, including driving Pakistan’s young people to turn out to vote in Feb. 8 elections in which Khan-backed candidates won the greatest number of seats despite having to contest as independents after the PTI was deprived of its iconic bat symbol by the election commission. 
Khan, who is widely believed to have been propelled to power with the backing of the military in 2018, was ousted in a parliamentary no-trust vote he blames was orchestrated by the military in cahoots with his political rivals. Both deny the charge. Since his ouster, his party has faced a state-backed crackdown that has only seemed to bolster support for Khan and which has been publicized widely on social media, along with unprecedented criticism of heavy hand in politics. The current military leadership says it no longer interferes in politics. 
“He [Munir] said smugglers and mafia are supporting terrorism while anarchy is also being spread through social media,” Radio Pakistan said, reporting on the army chief’s comments at a conference in Islamabad. 
The army chief’s comments come amid a ban on X in Pakistan since February when a government official held a press conference and made confessions of rigging in the general election. The government also has reportedly begun installing a nationwide firewall to regulate Internet usage, control access to social media sites, including Facebook, YouTube, and X, and empower the government to identify IP addresses associated with what it calls “anti-state propaganda.”
Speaking at Thursday’s ceremony, the army chief resolved to give a “befitting response” if anyone attempting to create “unrest and chaos” in Pakistan. 
“No power in the world can harm Pakistan because this country has been created to sustain,” Radio Pakistan said, quoting Munir. 
Speaking about a surge in militancy in Pakistan, the army chief urged Pakistani religious scholars to encourage tolerance.
“Spreading unrest is the biggest crime and the Pakistan Army under the ordains of Allah Almighty is striving to eliminate unrest,” the army chief said. “We do not consider such people as Pakistanis who do not accept Shariah [Islamic law] and the constitution.”