RAWALPINDI: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Saturday said a man who was pushed off a container during the PTI’s protest at D-Chowk earlier this week was not praying, but instead filming a TikTok video.
Addressing the reports in Rawalpindi, Tarar confirmed that the man was injured but completely fine, refuting claims about his death.
Amidst the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protest on November 26, a video went viral on social media, which showed the PTI protestor was pushed off from three-layered shipping containers by security personnel equipped with riot control gear.
Referring to the incident, the Info Minister said that PTI was spreading propaganda that the man had been praying before being pushed and killed.
The minister clarified that the man, a resident of Mandi Bahauddin, is alive and completely fine, adding that he sustained injuries on his arm. “The man had challenged his friend that he would shoot a TikTok video,” he maintained.
Earlier, taking on Facebook, Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhary, PTI’s MNA from Mandi Bahauddin, shared the aforementioned viral picture along with the individually named, Tahir Abbas Tarar, lying with both arms fully bandaged.
“PTI is now resorting to a false narrative of dead bodies to cover up the embarrassment of fleeing from the protest site. The party has failed to produce even a single video of firing,” he said, highlighting that PIMS and Polyclinic hospitals have clearly stated that “they have not received any bodies”.
He criticized the “PTI for airing old images and AI-generated images” on social media. He said these are being stamped as fake and that a cell has been established for e-verification of the footage.
The government spokesperson criticised the opposition for “not posting videos of martyred Rangers but instead spreading propaganda”. Tarar claimed that he walked the streets after their escape to demonstrate transparency.
In his remarks regarding the recent PTI protest, he said an anti-riot force is being raised, adding that there will be a speedy trial of the arrested violent protesters, and they will be brought to justice through effective prosecution.
He said the people rejected the PTI’s protest call, emphasizing a handful of elements do not represent the wishes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or the rest of the country.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), on the other hand, claimed that so far 12 people have died during the D-Chowk protest, while hundreds are injured from gunshots with many in critical condition.
PTI Central Secretary Information Waqas Akram Sheikh on Friday condemned the government’s actions and stated that such behavior had never been seen in Pakistan’s history of protests.
“Some details are being provided by the police, while we have gathered data on the arrested individuals,” he said. “Twelve people died during the protest, though the actual number is higher, but we are sharing the confirmed figures with the media. They did not allow the bodies to be handed over to the families, and the bodies were only given to the families three days later,” he added.
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