Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Sunday the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was spreading fake news to cover up its failed November 24 protest.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Tarar said that armed miscreants were present in PTI’s protest, which was planned to sabotage Islamabad’s peace. “Why a protest call is given whenever something important happens in Pakistan?” he asked. He said that PTI's protest caused Pakistan a loss of Rs192 billion per day.
He said there were reports that blood will be shed in the name of the “final call” in Islamabad. However, he said, it was the state’s responsibility to protect people’s lives and properties. He said that PTI wanted to do politics over dead bodies and it used resources of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the Islamabad protest. He said that PTI leader Murad Saeed was hiding inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister’s House. He said that trained groups were present at Islamabad protest with Murad Saeed.
He said the PTI has been involved in such things in the past too, but this time it was Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order that no protest will be allowed in the federal capital. He said the government offered alternative place to the PTI for the protest, but they insisted they will go to D-Chowk. He said that PTI workers brought weapons with them for violence. He said that personnel of the law enforcement agencies were not allowed to use live ammunition. He said that “miscreants” had live ammunition and weapons with them.
He said the PTI did propaganda using the foreign media and portrayed fake pictures and videos from Gaza as ones from Islamabad’s D-Chowk. He said the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and the Polyclinic made it clear that they did not receive body of any person who was shot dead. He challenged the PTI to show even a single photo of law enforcement personnel firing shots at the protesters. On the other hand, he said, the “miscreants” opened indiscriminate fire at the law enforcement personnel.