A well deliberated plan

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan in one of his speeches commented on the tussle between the political parties regarding the appointment of the Army Chief, and now his comments have become controversial. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif says that talking against state institutions is not suited anyone.

Khawaja Asif alleged that “negative talks against state institutions are being done under a well deliberated plan, Imran Khan first makes a statement against the state institutions and explains it after seeing the reaction. It is noteworthy that what Imran Khan says during PTI public rallies, the courts also hear cases related to it.’’ Khawaja Asif also said that stern action will be taken against Imran Khan and all this will happen soon.

The question is why Imran Khan making such irresponsible statements that he has to explain later. The statement of DG ISPR is also in front of us in which he said that there is great anger in Pakistan Army over Imran Khan’s statement.

One point, I can personally disagree with Khawaja Asif is that, Imran Khan spoke against the state institutions under a plan and later explained his point of view.

Interestingly, when Imran Khan was addressing the Peshawar rally on Tuesday night, shortly before that, there was a complaint that social media users could not access YouTube. Many people also complained about YouTube being blocked.

At this point, we were surprised when it was revealed that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had expressed ignorance about the YouTube ban, while Pemra had imposed a ban to broadcast alive Imran’s speech.

Two days ago, the court lifted the ban imposed on the broadcast of Imran Khan’s speech, but blocking YouTube definitely made a difference to Imran Khan’s coverage, which is equivalent to restricting the freedom of expression.

At first, the government took a step against justice by banning the broadcast of Imran Khan’s speech, against which the court correctly ruled, but then an attempt was made to keep Imran Khan away from the public by closing YouTube at a time when he was clarifying his statement.

Even before the execution of a murder convict, he is heard, which is a basic human right. There is a need for Imran Khan to stop criticizing  national institutions unnecessarily during  public rallies, but on the other side the government should also not restrict freedom of expression unnecessarily.