Islamabad, Pakistan: The recent volatile press conference of former parliament member PTI Shandana Gulzar Khan echoed even in the weekly press briefing of the US State Department. This can be taken as a textbook example of how propaganda works and how PTI manages to defame a country of 250 million people with a handful of experts.
Hailing from a pro-establishment family, Shandana Gulzar Khan had been a member of the parliament of PTI on female reserved seats. Her father former Home Secretary of KPK Gulzar Khan was also elected as a member of parliament on PTI ticket. She is one of the best among PTI in manipulating facts and events and igniting rage among PTI followers.
Before the SCO meeting, she had been spreading fake news that the founding chairman of PTI was either killed or tortured in jail so his followers should attack the federation (Islamabad) to get the founding chairman Imran Khan free from jail. After the November 24-26 protest, she had been telling PTI followers (through her social media handles) that hundreds of workers had been shot dead and the federation was killing everybody in Islamabad who was raising slogans in favor of Imran Khan. Last week she held a press conference claiming that the government of Pakistan was conducting genocide of Pashtuns and the situation in Pakistan was similar to Gaza. Since January 2024, she is claiming:
- Pakistan can be divided into parts as Bangladesh was crafted out of East Pakistan if former prime minister Imran Khan is not released from jail and placed in PM’s office
- The existence of Pakistan is linked with the rule of Imran Khan and Pakistan shall not survive if Khan is not released and offers the government soon
- The government of Pakistan is involved in a planned purge of different ethnic groups and has been killing its citizens regularly
- Hundreds of PTI workers were killed during the November 24-26 events in Islamabad
She is demanding:
- US congressmen to sanction Pakistan as they did Iran and Russia for human rights abuses
- United Nations must take action against Pakistan to stop the genocide of the Pashtun ethnic group
- International Media must gather data on killings of PTI workers and should raise the issue globally
- European Union must stop export to Pakistan
In simple words, Shandana Gulzar Khan wants global economic sanctions against Pakistan and the UN process under Article 1 of the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” against Pakistan.
Having a strong cadre of PTI propagandists in the United States and European countries, Shandana Gulzar Khan has leverage to spread her absurd, unfounded, and fabricated allegations against Pakistan in Western political, legal, social, and media circles. The government of Pakistan claims that PTI’s campaigns against Pakistan are funded and planned by the Zionist lobby and House of Goldsmith (the family of an ex-wife of Imran Khan) are behind defaming Pakistan and people such as Shahdana Gulzar are pawns in the game. If so is it not strange that the government of Pakistan is avoiding fabricated allegations such as what Shahdana Gulzar is leveling against Pakistan?
One can believe that the government of Pakistan does not want bitter relations with Western media for obvious reasons therefore it avoids baseless allegations leveled by Western media but people like Shahdana and Western media could be contested by the political cadre of the government but nobody except two or three ministers of PMLN are responding baseless allegations of foreign media against Pakistan. It looks like everybody is free to blame Pakistan for serious charges such as executing genocide of an ethnic group and even then can freely live in Pakistan and can freely address the media. Has the state of Pakistan become toothless in front of those who are harming Pakistan on the alleged instruction of the Zionist lobby and the House of Goldsmith?
