DND Report
The press briefing of Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has received a mixed response from media professionals, intellectuals, academicians, politicians, and adversaries. However, the majority view (except opponents of the Pakistan Army) suggests that the DG ISPR successfully exposed years of PTI’s fake news, internal chaos within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Imran Khan’s personality contradictions raising the question of why the civilian government’s media teams failed to do so earlier. Some academicians claim that a capacity problem exists, which is why military media has repeatedly filled the gap.
In a charged and truly unprecedented press briefing, the DG ISPR attempted to dismantle what he described as Imran Khan’s years-long propaganda model, exposing the entire machinery of fake news, victimhood politics, and anti-state narratives built by the PTI. For the first time, the national audience witnessed a direct, structured, and evidence-based rebuttal to the propaganda that has dominated PTI’s political messaging for years. The DG ISPR has always avoided commenting on a specific cult-like political party, but as the saying goes, “enough is enough.” PTI crossed limits multiple times, and the saturation point of the military became visible to all who watched the DG ISPR’s press conference.
The briefing did not merely challenge PTI’s narratives — it shook the party to its core. PTI’s visible panic, chaotic reactions, and contradictory statements expressed in its disjointed press conference afterward were testimony to the fact that the DG ISPR’s words struck the party at its weakest point.
It is a well-established fact that PTI’s narrative has long been constructed through systematic lies, misleading claims, and coordinated online campaigns, many of which are run from abroad.
Commenting on both the DG ISPR’s press conference and PTI’s subsequent media response, academician Dr. Shazia Anwer Cheema, who holds a PhD in the Philosophy of Communication, stated that PTI’s propaganda factory run under Imran Khan’s instructions spent years manufacturing false stories about state institutions, and that this “fake news lab” was now openly exposed before the nation. She added that the hysterical response by PTI after the DG ISPR’s presser itself validated the accuracy and effectiveness of his statements. According to her, PTI’s rhetoric of lies, slurring, slander, artificial victimhood, and name-calling would no longer work, as the party and its leadership stand exposed by their own actions including abusing Pakistan while appearing on television with people like Yalda Hakim, who has a long history of spreading venom against the country.
Senior journalist and vlogger Jabbar Chaudhry, while commenting on the situation, stated that PTI’s social media wing which has long accused state institutions — was thoroughly exposed by the DG ISPR. He remarked that Imran Khan is like a dead dog inside a village well, polluting the water for three years, yet no one is taking that dog out of the well.
“For the first time, the Pakistan Army spoke openly about a political figure in this manner. The DG ISPR’s press conference was a response to baseless allegations and the continuous smear campaign against Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, which had been ongoing for a long time, sung in chorus with the enemies of Pakistan. Imran Khan is actually a slave of his own cult,” commented Jabbar Chaudhry. He added that while PTI claims it ‘respects institutions’, Imran Khan’s official social media accounts continuously spread venom against the armed forces and state leadership.
Jabbar further said that one of the most dramatic reactions came from PTI trolls who deliberately twisted the DG ISPR’s remark, “barking dogs rarely bite.” The DG ISPR had clearly applied the phrase to PTI’s social media trolls and their smear campaigns. However, PTI influencers distorted the statement and falsely associated it with their own Chief Minister, Sohail Afridi. According to Jabbar, “the whole PTI is like a dead dog in a well, and there is no harm in calling a spade a spade.”
Senior journalist Aijaz Ahmed, who regularly reports on court proceedings from Adiala Jail, told DND News Agency that the DG ISPR’s presser did not create fissures within PTI rather it simply revealed those already present. He said that PTI’s serious and mature leadership has increasingly begun distancing itself from Imran Khan’s self-destructive politics, which revolves around aggressive, abusive language and anti-state messaging. Aijaz added that a number of senior PTI figures have reportedly refused to participate in his hate-driven propaganda campaigns, indicating growing intellectual and political exhaustion within the party. According to him, PTI as a party is slowly distancing itself from the extremist political model created by Imran Khan.
The comments of experts and senior journalists suggest that, for the first time, the nation witnessed the dismantling of an entire political communication model built on fake news, distortions, and victimhood. The panic-stricken reaction from PTI, both on traditional media and on social media became the strongest validation that the DG ISPR’s press conference had jolted the party to its foundations.
The impact of the DG ISPR’s press conference was so forceful that PTI, in panic mode, launched a propaganda campaign against the family members of the DG ISPR. A systematic social media campaign was launched against the father of DG ISPR immediately after the press conference of Lt Gen Sharif. This campaign not only spread across social media but was also tweeted from PTI’s official account. It targeted a man who was an important pillar of Pakistan’s nuclear programme.
It may be mentioned that Bashiruddin Mahmood, father of the current DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif was the founder of the atomic reactor with the capacity to produce eight to ten plutonium bombs. The cooling system, control mechanism, and heavy water production plant of the Khushab reactor were designed by Bashiruddin Mahmood, who was also the first Director General of this nuclear facility. Numerous scientists have served Pakistan’s nuclear programme; many, including Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, faced international pressure and Bashiruddin Mahmood’s name stands among the most prominent. It is pertinent to mention that former President Gen Pervez Musharraf, under the influence of Western powers, had supported campaigns against senior scientists who made Pakistan a nuclear power.
