The armed forces are well aware of the entities responsible for proliferating anti-Pakistan propaganda globally, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Monday.
Addressing a press briefing at General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, he claimed there had been 127 articles written against Pakistan in foreign media over the past 7 months. “This is just mainstream media; you can imagine how much more is available on social media,” he said. “The goal is to spread unrest within Pakistan,” he alleged. Stressing that the Army knew who was facilitating such narratives and their reasons for doing so, he pointed to protests in foreign countries, and the lobbying of lawmakers in foreign countries “for a particular political purpose.”
Questioning why such resources were not utilized to raise global awareness about the rights abuses in Palestine or India-held Kashmir, he said it would have been appreciable if these people had focused their attention on bolstering the image of Pakistan rather than maligning it. “If you have so much money and resources, why aren’t you fighting for these just causes?” he questioned. “Do you think this is happening on its own?” he questioned journalists, alleging the people who were advancing such narratives wanted unrest and insecurity in Pakistan. “They want to spread despondency, unrest and a specific political agenda in Pakistan,” he alleged, adding there is no such thing as a “free lunch” and the enablers would want their payment eventually. “We stand united with the public against such attempts and will continue to do so,” he added.
Balochistan unrest
To a question on the Baloch Yakjehti Council sit-in underway in Gwadar, the military spokesman alleged the group and its leadership was a “front” for smugglers, terrorists and criminal mafias. Alleging the “proxy” was “tasked” with maligning anyone—whether security forces or government—attempting to counter their activities, he accused them of misleading innocents into supporting foreign narratives with the support of foreign funding. “They are tasked with spreading propaganda against security forces and the government,” he alleged, while rubbishing talk of there being no “writ of the government” in Gwadar. “They want to make controversial development projects in Balochistan,” he claimed.
The spokesman claimed the BYC was directed to “create” an issue around certain people and then use them to mislead innocent people, challenge the state’s writ and spread unrest. “When the state responds, they act innocent,” he said, alleging their “sponsors” would then evoke human rights to come out in support of them.
“The reality is that the Government of Balochistan told them they are free to protest but they cannot block roads or damage development projects,” he claimed, adding they had responded by saying they would block roads and damage such initiatives. “They even attacked a deployment of Frontier Corps, martyring a soldier,” he said, stressing the Balochistan government had exercised restraint.
May 9 riots
To a question, Lt. Gen. Chaudhry said the military’s stance on the May 9 riots had not changed, nor would it change in future. “Army’s stance on [May 9] is clear, which was conveyed in the May 7 press conference. There has been no change in that nor there will be,” he said.
To another question on “digital terrorism,” he said he considered such people “ill-fated,” as they opted to betray their country and their countrymen for the sake of some money. He said the first barrier to “digital terrorism” was the law and it was unfortunate that there wasn’t suitable accountability for people spreading fake news and false propaganda on social media.
“Anyone, whether in Pakistan or outside, if they spread propaganda against Pakistan; try to cause rifts between the public and Army; will be acted on,” he maintained.
He also marked the fifth anniversary of Youm-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir, when India unilaterally revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, ending the region’s special constitutional status.
“We are aware of the inhuman lockdown, illegal ways to change the region’s demographics and human rights violations that are a defiance of international law and are a danger to the region,” he said, stressing that regional peace required a resolution of the conflict as per U.N. resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Criminal elements
To a question on criticism against the Army for not preventing cross-border smuggling and similar criminal activities, Lt. Gen. Chaudhry noted the border areas with Afghanistan and Iran were porous and had been for decades. “Their economy is dependent on cross-border trade,” he said, adding if the military were to just close the borders, it would benefit the “mafia” seeking to cause rifts between the Army and the public.
He said the state needed to provide basic infrastructure and alternate employment for regional residents before borders could be closed. “This requires a long-term, people-driven solution,” he said. He also sought to clarify “confusion” over the border fence between Pakistan and Afghanistan, saying it was not able to singlehandedly halt cross-border traffic. “The fence did lead to a reduction in illegal movements,” he claimed, but stressed no border can be made “water-tight.”
Any border, he said, requires both countries to work together. “We see no such will from Afghanistan,” he said, adding Pakistan had over 1,400 checkposts on its side while Kabul had just 200. “We have also seen that illegal movements are often accompanied by cross-border firing from across the border,” he said. “The most important thing is ensuring strict punishments for anyone found to be involved in illegally border crossings,” he stressed.
Anti-Terror operations
Earlier, during his briefing on anti-terror efforts, the military spokesman said 23,622 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) had been conducted thus far this year, including 2,045 in the last 15 days that eliminated 24 terrorists. He said Army and law enforcement agencies were conducting 100 IBOs daily and stressed that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had nothing to do with Islam.
“The armed forces are especially focused on the merged districts of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” he said, vowing that the war against terrorism would continue until the last militant was eliminated.
On the military’s contributions to the education sector, he said it was a fundamental element of a country’s development. “Digital education is also being provided to the youth,” he said, stressing Baloch students were the country’s future and a scholarship program had been initiated to facilitate them. He said the Army was also bearing other expenses of Baloch students apart from their studies.
“About 92 schools are being run in Balochistan for better education and 19,000 are getting education from there,” he said, adding the Army had similarly established 171 schools and three cadet colleges in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. “Pakistan Army set up medical camps in various districts where free treatment was provided,” he said, adding that local and foreign companies are working on many projects in the merged districts. He stressed that education, health and provision of clean water in Balochistan was the top priority of the Pakistan Army. The Army also supported various important projects to construct roads and bridges in Balochistan, he said, adding a project focused on processing dates was underway in Panjgur with the U.A.E.’s support.
To a question on criticism about the military’s influence in non-defense sectors, he questioned if this meant the Army should stop them. Defending the military’s stance, he said the military would not stop any actions in support of Pakistan, whether it was on the economic front or otherwise. “Our fight against terrorism requires a whole-of-the-nation approach that includes education and development,” he said, adding militaries in most countries across the world indulged in the same activities but were not maligned for doing so. “Unfortunately, there is a mafia in Pakistan that does not want the military to help the people of Pakistan,” he alleged, questioning why they did not want the country to progress.