Web Desk (LTN NEWS): The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seems to be moving away from Shahbaz Gill, the party leader who was arrested on August 9 and charged with sedition and inciting against institutions.
Fawad Chaudhry, the leader of the PTI, said Wednesday that Gill’s story was “not the party’s position” and that “everyone has their own opinion.”
He still insisted, though, that “Shahbaz Gill should be forgiven after he took back what he said.”
“Those who know him [Gill] personally know that he is a patriot,” Chaudhry said, adding that the PTI has a “pro-Pakistan policy.”
The former information minister’s comments came after Gill allegedly said some controversial things on a private TV channel after a helicopter crash in which six army officers died, including Quetta Corps Commander Lt. General Sarfraz Ali.
Earlier, the army had strongly criticized what it called “hurtful and derogatory” comments made by a certain group of people after the incident.
The government set up a joint inquiry team on Wednesday. The team found that 774 social media accounts were behind most of the false claims and smear campaigns against the military. Many of these accounts were found to be operating from India as well as from within the country.
Iran Khan, the leader of the PTI, said that there was a “conspiracy” to pit his party against the military.
But the government said that Imran Khan, the leader of the PTI, was trying to take people’s attention away from the case of illegal funding by running a bad campaign against the army on social media.
At a press conference on Tuesday, after Gill was arrested, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that a private TV channel has also been found to have played a “conspiratorial role.” He also said that Shahbaz Gill, former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, and the channel’s management did this on Imran Khan’s orders.
Gill was brought before a district and sessions court in Islamabad after he was arrested. Yesterday, a judicial magistrate gave police two days to keep him in custody.
