Daily Times

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Wednesday strongly condemned an “organized campaign” run by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on social media over demise of former religious minister Mufti Abdul Shakoor who was recently died in a road accident.

“For the last three days, it has been observed that some elements on social media are linking the accident either with some conspiracy, terrorism or a planned killing which is totally wrong,” the minister said while responding to a calling attention notice raised in the National Assembly. She deplored the “irresponsible behavior” shown by the PTI workers and social media activists who allegedly shared some posts to mislead the masses on the death of late Mufti Shakoor. “This campaign is being run from the same social media accounts which were used to run a malicious drive over Lasbela incident,” Marriyum said while recalling the demise of some Army officials in a helicopter crash.

She said the PTI workers and leaders were driven by a mindset which even did not spare deaths and accidents for hatching conspiracies. Marriyum said that a complete report on the demise of Mufti Shakoor would be presented before the Parliament tomorrow. She said that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had already given a policy statement and clarified that this incident had nothing to do with any conspiracy, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the interior minister to constitute a fact finding committee and present a complete report in that regard. “I am personally monitoring the matter pertaining to the martyrdom of Mufti Abdul Shakoor,” she said adding it was a tragic incident. All parliamentarians have expressed their deep grief and sorrow in the Parliament over his demise and honored him by passing a resolution to award him Halal-i-Imtiaz posthumously for his outstanding and remarkable public service, the minister added.