As Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) accuses the coalition government of seeking normalisation of ties with Israel as part of the alleged 'regime change conspiracy', the organisers of the controversial trip to Israel have said that the then PTI government had allowed Pakistani nationals to go ahead with the tour.
Following Israeli President Isaac Herzog's confirmation of the visit of Pakistani delegates to Israel, the PTI as well as the incumbent government have been busy spinning the incident to suit their own narratives.
PTI has been accusing the government of wanting to recognize Israel, claiming this has been a part of the alleged regime change controversy all along. The incumbent government has been doubling down on the Pakistani journalist involved and sacking him from the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV).
https://twitter.com/WorldPTV/status/1531219834544988160
In an interview with Geo TV, the leader of the delegation Anila Ali said the Pakistani members of the delegation were allowed by Imran Khan to visit Israel.
"I'm very thankful to the Imran Khan government for allowing Fishel BenKhald to travel to Jerusalem so that he could pray at his holy site," said Anila, adding that she was given assurances that there would be no issues nor victimization when he came back.
Anila also said that she was displeased at PTI leader Shireen Mazari for using the incident – which was supposed to celebrate interfaith harmony – as a means to distract everyone from her own party's failures.
https://twitter.com/ShireenMazari1/status/1530815052416225281
The other Pakistani journalist part of the delegation was PTV's Ahmad Qureshi, who has since then been fired from his job at PTV after the state-run media house issued a statement on Twitter.
He said the government’s announcement meant that it was endorsing PTI’s leadership’s “false claims” about a state employee being sent to Israel, adding that he had not been a full time employee at PTV since 2004, and has been working as a freelance journalist since then.
Following Israeli President Isaac Herzog's confirmation of the visit of Pakistani delegates to Israel, the PTI as well as the incumbent government have been busy spinning the incident to suit their own narratives.
PTI has been accusing the government of wanting to recognize Israel, claiming this has been a part of the alleged regime change controversy all along. The incumbent government has been doubling down on the Pakistani journalist involved and sacking him from the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV).
https://twitter.com/WorldPTV/status/1531219834544988160
In an interview with Geo TV, the leader of the delegation Anila Ali said the Pakistani members of the delegation were allowed by Imran Khan to visit Israel.
"I'm very thankful to the Imran Khan government for allowing Fishel BenKhald to travel to Jerusalem so that he could pray at his holy site," said Anila, adding that she was given assurances that there would be no issues nor victimization when he came back.
Anila also said that she was displeased at PTI leader Shireen Mazari for using the incident – which was supposed to celebrate interfaith harmony – as a means to distract everyone from her own party's failures.
https://twitter.com/ShireenMazari1/status/1530815052416225281
The other Pakistani journalist part of the delegation was PTV's Ahmad Qureshi, who has since then been fired from his job at PTV after the state-run media house issued a statement on Twitter.
He said the government’s announcement meant that it was endorsing PTI’s leadership’s “false claims” about a state employee being sent to Israel, adding that he had not been a full time employee at PTV since 2004, and has been working as a freelance journalist since then.