Pakistani leader Shireen Mazari’s daughter, Imaan Hazir Mazari, in a series of tweets, has accused Pakistani Army of tutoring the youth to show their stand on Kashmir. She accused the Army of trying to dictate what should go on their social media account.
Over the next few weeks, I was sent grp emails instructing us to post identical content 4m our social media accs. Sometimes, there would be slight variations suggested. Despite my blind nationalism, I thought perhaps I should hold off on doing this. Something didn’t seem right.
— ایمان زینب (@ImaanZHazir) January 8, 2018
She claims she never posted these tweets as suggested by Pakistani Army, because she felt something didn’t seem right. She goes on to explain how she reached out to Pakistani Army to help them with conducting research on Kashmir, a topic close to her heart.
I never posted those things. Instead, I asked if I could perhaps do something else. Maybe some work on Kashmir? I got a response back saying they were looking to send Pakistani students to various conferences on Kashmir. I was very excited and asked if I should begin preparing.
— ایمان زینب (@ImaanZHazir) January 8, 2018
She then accuses the Pakistani Army of trying to tutor her with a script which she should stick to.
I was sent back a response saying there was no need – I would be given a script to follow and that I would need to stick to that script. Not being comfortable with this, I refused. Many such offers were made to be a scripted puppet. I see those very same puppets on twitter 2day.
— ایمان زینب (@ImaanZHazir) January 8, 2018
She then claims how Pakistani Army is ‘feeding’ information to journalists which is lapped up by journalists to feel ‘important’.
Their tactics have changed a little. They feed info to journalists to make them feel imp.They do the same w/ young,impressionable activists who are directed to launch coordinated attacks ag dissenters. If 1 campaign fails, it doesn’t matter: they have folders of info to misuse.
— ایمان زینب (@ImaanZHazir) January 8, 2018
One wonders then if these tactics are also used on some journalists functioning in India, considering the spate of anti India news and editorials recently. She further accuses the Pakistani Army of launching a coordinated attack on the dissenters. She accuses them of using these tactics to silence people for years. She even claimed how she was sent threats and inappropriate messages in a bid to get her to shut up.
The point being: they have scared people into silence for so many years & they are never going to stop. One of the people they used to send indirect threats to me through was @AnjumKiani – not just threats but inappropriate msgs. & the same man 2day accuses me of “satanism” ?
— ایمان زینب (@ImaanZHazir) January 8, 2018
She then appeals to others to realise that these campaigns are endangering their lives and asks them to not let the Army to bully them into silence.
This is not the first time Hazari has taken to social media to voice her dissent against the Pakistani Army. In November, 2017, she had posted a video criticising the Pakistani Army for the Faizabad sit-in and the aftermath of a botched operation by the federal government. Her mother Shireen, who serves as a chief whip for Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, had distanced herself from her daughter’s outburst.