Caretaker Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi on Tuesday said that publishing of the article in the name of former PTI chief by the popular foreign media outlet – The Economist was against the core values of journalism.
Speaking in talks shows of different private news channels, the minister said it was a “ghost column” and not a “guest column”.
There was no basis for The Economist to assert that it was a “guest article” as the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief had no such facility in the jail, he added.
“The article of the ex-chairman of PTI is as ghost as his posts on ‘X’.”
Solangi said the caretaker government had rightfully expressed its reservations as the PTI chief himself even did not own the content of the article.
“The Economist should better speak the truth to its readers,” he said while referring to the PTI’s contradictory stances of touting the article as the production of artificial intelligence and a search engine at the same time.
The minister said the people were well aware of reality of May 9 incidents, as the statements, tweets and speeches made by the PTI leaders on that day were on the record.
Investigation of the people involved in the rioting on that day was underway in accordance with law, he added.
A probe body, he said, had been formed for holistic investigation of the May 9 incidents. The committee was mandated to determine causes, responsibility, and the future course of action to prevent recurrence of such events.
The minister said it was the former PTI chairman and his associates who had got themselves ousted from the country’s politics . They had the opportunity, but they preferred to en mass resignation from the National Assembly and then dissolution of the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The PTI leadership could not blame anybody for their own follies, he added.
He said that they attacked the defence installations and tried to instigate rebellion within the state institutions.
