ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Asad Qaiser, the former National Assembly speaker and prominent PTI leader, on Sunday hit back at federal ministers Khawaja Asif and Attaullah Tarar, who charged his party with running a smear campaign against the martyrs of Pakistan military and law enforcement agencies.
“The PTI has always recognised and honoured the sacrifices made by soldiers defending the country’s borders,” Qaiser asserted while speaking to a group of reporters.
“[Defence Minister] Khawaja Asif and [Information Minister] Ataullah Tarar’s misleading propaganda about the martyrs is regrettable,” he remarked.
In a post on social media platform X, Qaiser emphasised that “those using the soldiers’ martyrdom for their political gains are not the well-wishers of the nation.”
"The nation is proud of each and every soldier protecting the country," averred the PTI leader.
PTI leader Barrister Saif also came down hard on the PML-N, accusing them of exploiting the martyrs for political gains.
He affirmed PTI's patriotic stance and denied any involvement in maligning the martyrs of the security forces.
Earlier on Sunday, Khawaja Asif took a swipe at the PTI, alleging that some individuals within the party mocked the martyrs by comparing them to returning officers.
He suggested that "those who give statements against the martyrs must be linked with terrorists", adding that no political party should engage in such behavior, despite their differences with the establishment.
On Saturday evening, Information Minister Ata Tarar warned of action against the PTI’s social media team, accusing them of orchestrating an insulting campaign against the martyrs, particularly those who lost their lives in North Waziristan.
Tarar condemned the insulting social media campaign and highlighted that many of the accounts were operated from outside of Pakistan, with followers residing within the country.
At least seven army soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel and a captain, embraced martyrdom in a grisly terrorist attack in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan on Saturday.