Daily Times

Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi on Sunday said targeting national security institutions for vested interests would not be acceptable at all costs.

Addressing a press conference here, Ashrafi, who is also the chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council, said the continuous defamation campaign against the country’s defense institutions compelled Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum along with Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lieutenant General Babar Iftikhar to appear before the nation to disclose the truth.

He said in the wake of senior journalist Arshad Sharif’s murder, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan had launched a malicious drive to build pressure on the security institutions in a bid to achieve his undemocratic and ulterior motives.

“It should be stopped now as the PTI chief was consistently crossing the redline besides promoting and strengthening the anti-state agenda,” he added.

Ashrafi made it clear that the martyrdom of Arshad Sharif was a national tragedy and it had infused grief and sorrow in the people of all segments of the society. “But it is totally against the social and political norms to manipulate the situation for point-scoring and gaining cheap popularity in the public,” he maintained. He said if the PTI chief’s long march was continuing peacefully, its credit went to the security forces who had rendered unprecedented sacrifices for the restoration of peace in the country after the 9/11.

He said Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bjwa had played a vital role in the war on terror which is also acknowledged by the world powers. Regarding Senator Azam Khan Swati’s allegations, Ashrafi asked him to appeal in the court against those military officials naming for custodial torture if he had any evidence.

He lamented that Azam Swati was also fueling the malicious campaign launched by the PTI chief in the garb of Arshad Sharif’s murder to malign the national defense institutions. He categorically stated that “our national security institutions were competent enough to bring the killers of Martyr Arshad Sharif to justice in a short span of time.”

Brushing aside the false impression on the prime minister’s visits to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, he gave good news to the nation that all those projects which were in doldrums due to PTI’s bad governance were being started in near future.

He also informed that Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman was visiting Pakistan soon. If there would be political stability in Pakistan, the Arab Islamic world was bringing a huge investment in the country’s various economic sectors in a couple of months, he added.

He said Pakistan’s bilateral relations with friend countries were strengthening with the passage of time, urging some elements to avoid the negative propaganda against them as they were friends of Pakistan instead of any individual person or party.

Alerting mischievous persons spreading false notions, he said they would be given a befitting response by the nation, if they did not mend their ways. He also made it clear that national security forces were our redline besides Islam and sacred Islamic personalities.