Army slams ‘hurtful, unacceptable’ campaign following copter crash


The army on Friday strongly condemned what it called “hurtful and derogatory” comments made by a certain group of people following the helicopter crash in which six army officers, including Quetta Corps Commander Lt General Sarfraz Ali embraced martyrdom

When the news of the army helicopter going missing came, certain people on social media started making derogatory comments

Some of them went to the extent of wishing for the presence of top military leadership on the missing chopper

Most of those making such comments were apparently from a certain political party, which felt it was hard done by the country’s security establishment

Without naming any political party, the military’s media wing took strong exception to the campaign on social media

Read more: Martyrdom of six officers confirmed as ISPR says wreckage of missing copter found “The regretful social media campaign after the unfortunate heli(copter) crash on August 1 has caused deep anguish and distress among Shuhada families and rank and file of the armed forces,” an official Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement read

“While the whole nation stood with the institution in this difficult time, certain insensitive quarters resorted to hurtful and derogatory comments on social media which is unacceptable and highly condemnable,” the statement added

The wreckage of unfortunate hel which was on flood relief ops found in Musa Goth, Windar, Lasbela

All 6 offrs & sldrs incl Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali embraced shahadat

اِنّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ Accident occurred due to bad weather as per initial investigations

DTF pic

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com/dnyano2vqC — DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) August 2, 2022 Later, Director General ISPR Major Babar Iftikhar explained that they were compelled to issue a statement after a certain group of people launched a hateful campaign against the army and its leadership

Read: Copter with army general on board goes missing “This should not happen

We must reject those elements,” the chief military spokesperson told a private news channel

“This is unacceptable and it should be condemned at all levels,” he insisted

When asked about reports that President Arif Alvi was stopped from attending the funeral of martyred army officers since victim families did not want it, the spokesperson said he would not comment on it

The DG ISPR also made it clear that Pakistan played no role in the recent killing of al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri

He said the Foreign Office had already clarified Pakistan’s position and there was no point in further speculation on the subject

The military’s media wing in the past too took notice of the anti-military campaign and had to rebut allegations that it was interfering in political matters

The establishment, particularly its leadership, has been in the spotlight ever since former prime minister Imran Khan was removed from power through a vote of no confidence in April

The former premier has on a number of occasions complained that the security establishment did not come to his government’s rescue when they knew a conspiracy was being hatched against it

While the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership was making indirect references, its supporters were more direct

They accused the military leadership of being behind the ouster of the PTI government as the campaign against the senior military leadership continued on social media

The reason behind PTI supporters being critical of the military leadership was that they refused to endorse the conspiracy claims by Imran Khan

The National Security Committee twice met and concluded that there was no evidence to back the claims that the PTI government was ousted from power through a US-backed conspiracy



Date:06-Aug-2022 Reference:View Original Link