Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary Shireen Mazari stated that the Geo/Jang group apology as an advertisement in their papers on Tuesday is merely an expression of regret over the hurt caused to the armed forces and a large number of Geo channel viewers and implies that the nation as a whole and the civilian government had no issue with the eight-hour attack against Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its chief.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mazari said that this in itself shows the nefarious link between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Geo/Jang group.
“Perhaps that is why Minister for Information Pervaiz Rasheed himself went to Dubai to extricate an apology from Mir Shakilur Rehman, which he then carried back personally as if he were an employee of Rehman like many others who work for both the PML-N government and Geo/Jang group,” she said.
Mazari said that the content of the apology does not show any regret over the actual content that was aired, adding that the content is being justified in the “apology” which is a mere apology for “the hurt” that the content has caused to a few.
Mazari also highlighted the fact that Geo/Jang never mentioned the name of CIA official in Islamabad who was directly responsible for drone attacks in FATA, adding that this self-restraint was inexplicable given that it was merely a factual revelation.
Mazari said that in contrast, the ISI and its chief were vilified for eight hours and his picture shown on mere accusations. She asked whose agenda Geo was implementing through this discriminatory approach.
She said it was unbelievable that for eight hours neither the PML-N government nor Geo owners realised that a baseless targeting of the country’s national security agency was going on in a manner that only Pakistan’s enemies would do.
Mazari also demanded that Geo be dealt with according to PEMRA laws, claiming that this whole episode is not the first time Geo/Jang group has blackmailed politicians and done smear campaigns against heads of state organisations, including former PEMRA chief, former head of NADRA, and numerous other such examples abound.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his then cabinet members were also targeted in 1999, she said.
