The degree of offence taken by the Pak Army at tweets smearing the Corps Commanderr Quetta and four other officers in a helicopter crash while on flood relief duty, can be gauged from the fact that the DG ISPR, Maj Gen Babar Ikftikhar felt constrained to address the issue at a press conference. The social-media activist expressed his ire against the Chief of Army Stasff by wishing him on board the helicopter. This is offensive to General Bajwa as well as the families of the martyrs. The offending youngster, Muneeb Kiyani, has apologized. PTI chief Imran Khan, in an attempt at damage control, has condoled with the familyi of Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali.
However, The PTI’s propensity to ignore all canons of good taste and common humanity, is now coming back to bite the institution that was on the same page with it. This incident, where a PTI supporter crosses the bounds of civilized behaviour and then is forced by his or her own conscience to apologize, is not the first. The sloganeering against Ahsan Iqbal at Bhera, followed by the sloganeering family apologizing to him, is still fresh in memory.
An old-stle MPA once said that you could say anything on the floor of the House. Wehen one crossed the line, one would simply take back one’s words. Is the PTI trying that? After the decision in the foreign funding chase, The PTI is less restrained than before.
However, these tweets markeda ne low: solely to score political points, and points which were not essential. The PTI has introduced a culture of crudity and bad manners. Noe that those once on the same page have seen how the PTI is willing to sacrifice good manners where it sees the slightest political advantage. The PTI itself should be worried about this phenomenon, as it is only a matter of time before it falls victim to it. It must concert measures with other parties to deal with this.
