- Anti-democratic forces hell-bent to transform Pakistan into a totalitarian regime: PTI Spokesperson
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) made it clear that the party would vigorously oppose any malicious attempts to transfer Pakistan into a “Democratic Black Hole” by installing a firewall to unlawfully restrict social media and suppress fundamental freedoms, including the right to free speech and a free press.
In a strongly-worded statement on Friday, the PTI Spokesperson stated that imposition of unconstitutional bans on media and illegal restrictions on social media would not be accepted come what may.
The PTI Spokesperson stated that they would vehemently resist any state-led encroachment on political and democratic freedoms, including the sacred rights of freedom of expression and citizens’ access to information.
Moreover, he lamented that Pakistan was currently in the stranglehold of forces hostile to the constitution, democracy, and the principles of elected governance.
The Spokesperson warned that these anti-democratic forces were determined to transform Pakistan into a totalitarian regime, stripped of fundamental democratic rights and freedoms, including the freedom of speech and press, and devoid of basic human liberties.
The PTI leader recalled that over the past two years, the state and its powerful elites had transformed Pakistan into a hell, where independent-minded journalists, media outlets, and newspapers faced relentless state-sponsored coercion, censorship, and brutal administrative tactics aimed at silencing their voices and stifling dissent.
The PTI Spokesperson noted that the journalists, political workers and citizens, who used their constitutional right to express and communicate against the shameful acts of the powers that be and its puppets were being targeted of extra-constitutional and judicial repression, resultantly hundreds of journalists and political workers have been forced into self-exile due to threats to their lives.
The Spokesperson reminded that Arshad Sharif, the leading investigative journalist of the country, was brutally killed in foreign country but the state did not brought any accused to justice till date rather full patronage was provided to the killers.
Furthermore, he said that in order to suppress the voices of social media workers, the forbidden war tactic like collective punishment was being used against them and their families with complete impunity in total disregard of shame, modesty and legal consequences.
The PTI Spokesperson highlighted that since February 16, X (formerly Twitter) had been forcibly shut down by the state, while the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), tasked with combating white-collar crime, was being exploited to intimidate citizens, stifle political dissent, and suppress fundamental freedoms.
The PTI Spokesperson warned that the power usurpers’ attempts to transform Pakistan into a democratic block hole, following the enactment of the defamation law, which paved the way for a ‘Legislative Dictatorship’, would not be tolerated.
Also he stated that the mandate-thief should to abandon its sinister scheme of making Pakistan a graveyard of democracy, constitution and fundamental political rights and a bastion of blind dictatorship.
The Spokesperson urged that instead of imposition unnecessary and cruel restrictions on freedom of speech and press, the mandate thieves should allow the promotion of knowledge, awareness, and serious thoughts and ideas, besides it enabled the people of the world to connect and communicate.