The government on Saturday refuted the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's claim of state brutality during the recent Islamabad clashes.
The PTI had claimed that several of party workers were killed during the mayhem that culminated in the retreat of the PTI from D-Chowk.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar strongly refuted allegations of state brutality and indiscriminate firing by law enforcement authorities during recent clashes with protestors.
In a statement issued by the Deputy Prime Minister Office, Ishaq Dar labeled the claims of gunshot wounds and unwarranted violence as "malicious" and "absolutely false," urging to provide evidence such as "graves and dead bodies" to substantiate the accusations.
He said the so-called protestors came armed with heavy ammunition and tear gas canisters.
"The mob was determined to create chaos and ready to kill. Our security and law enforcement agencies exercised maximum restraint with patience despite deaths within their ranks," he said adding that the PTI leaders abandoned their workers and were now developing a ridiculous and lies-based narrative of state brutality.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that the PTI was spreading a false propaganda about the bodies, saying that the PTI has always practiced the politics of chaos.
He expressed these views at a news conference at his residence at the cantonment.
"Everyone knows what the PTI did on November 24. It is spreading false propaganda on dead bodies. It martyred police and Rangers personnel whose funerals were also held. The PTI should not spread false propaganda on the bodies of its workers. We pay tribute to all the martyrs, including police and Rangers, who did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives for our beloved homeland. I should make it clear that no attacker will come from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa now. Those who made big claims left the field and ran away at the first obstacle. PTI's protest was part 2 of the May 9 tragedy," he maintained.
He said that the way Ali Amin Gandapur and Bushra Bibi left their workers and fled had no example in the past. "We offered them to sit and hold a rally at other places but this lady (Bushra Bibi) did not accept. Latif Khosa and other PTI leaders are giving different numbers of their martyrs; first thousands, then hundreds and now these people have come to the figure of 10 but still no testimony has been received from the funeral of a single person or their families in this regard," he added.
He said that Omar Ayub says he was shot in the chest but how could he hold a news conference if he was really shot. He said that PTI has always done politics of chaos. "It held its first sit-in in 2014, then they forced the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister to be cancelled and then they announced a sit-in to sabotage the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, but by the grace of Allah, the meeting took place and now, during the visit of the President of Belarus, the PTI tried to hold a sit-in again, which shows their anti-nationalism. These people used all the machinery of the KP government and weapons, but Allah made us victorious.
"Gandapur ran away from Islamabad and now he is shouting and saying that the sit-in is still going on. It is beyond understanding what kind of sit-in this is?" he added.
Also, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar regretted that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was now resorting to a "false narrative of dead bodies" to cover up the embarrassment of fleeing from the protest site in the Blue Area.
In a media talk regarding fake photos and posts uploaded by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on social media, he said the party had failed to produce even a single video of the firing.
He pointed out that the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and Polyclinic Hospital had clearly stated that they did not receive any dead bodies.
At first, the PTI claimed that sniper shots were fired, then it was claimed that there was direct firing on the violent protesters, he said.
The minister remarked that three days had passed, but the PTI could not even produce even a single video of direct firing.
Instead, they were sharing old photos and artificial intelligence-generated images on social media including those of Gaza victims of Israeli atrocities. Even one footage of an incident in 2019 was shared when ironically PTI itself was in power.
The minister said that on the contrary, the violent PTI protesters used different weapons against the security personnel and also inflicted damage on public property.
He questioned why the PTI did not post the pictures of martyred rangers, and police personnel who lost their lives in line of duty.
He said those who had shared wrong data about dead bodies on social media accounts would have to give evidence or face music.
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