During a protest held by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Lahore against the arrest of anchor Imran Riaz, the party leadership endorsed hateful slogans raised by members against senior journalist Asma Shirazi.
Following the arrest of pro-PTI anchorperson Imran Riaz, the PTI announced nationwide protests against his arrest. Members of the PTI instructed the public as well as party workers to show up outside press clubs all over the country.
At one such protest in Lahore on July 6, hateful slogans against journalist Asma Shirazi were raised by those in attendance. However the leadership did not discourage the use of the vile slogans, and instead, let the crowd continue to chant the slogans.
A video of the protest has been circulating on social media, and is being shared by users who are questioning the sloganeering being done by the PTI workers.
Since the arrest of Imran Riaz, the PTI leadership and supporters have been targeting journalists and anchorpersons who had been critical of the previous PTI government, and Asma Shirazi has long been a favorite target of the PTI.
Asma Shirazi responded to the video clip and said that information regarding who was running this campaign against her was slowly coming out.
وَ مَكَرُوْا وَ مَكَرَ اللہُ، وَ اللّٰهُ خَیْرُ الْمٰكِرِیْنَ۠(۵۴)
بےشک اللہ سب سے بہتر تدبیر والا ہے۔
میرے خلاف نعرے اور کردار کُشی کی مہم کوئ اچنبھے کی بات نہیں۔ کون مہم چلواتا رہا، کون نشان عبرت بنانے کی خواہش رکھتا تھا سب سامنے آ رہا ہے۔
آلہ کار کون تھے، اب سب کے سامنے ہیں۔ https://t.co/1RfUgzWklG— Asma Shirazi (@asmashirazi) July 8, 2022
Although the arrest of Imran Riaz has been met with widespread condemnation from PTI supporters as well as other members of the journalism fraternity, politicians and activists, the PTI is still targeting journalists who they consider to be anti-PTI.
