Achi news desk-
- PTI’s social media team bashes Afridi after an old video goes viral.
- Marwat asks social media team to say good things about Afridi.
- Ali says both Imran Khan, Shahid Afridi are national heroes.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Sher Afzal Marwat and Ali Muhammad Khan blamed their party’s social media team for starting a propaganda campaign against former cricket captain Shahid Afridi.
The debate started after an old video of Afridi circulated on X, formerly Twitter, when he talked about the motion of no confidence against the then prime minister Imran Khan, his promises before coming to power in 2018 and the performance of his government.
Afridi made these comments when he was in London in 2022 to raise money for his charity organization.
After the video went viral, Imran Khan’s fans and social media team started criticizing Afridi.
Marwat blames PTI’s social media team for propaganda
Taking the issue into consideration, Marwat blamed PTI’s social media team for the propaganda, asking them to say good things about Afridi.
“I personally confirm that the campaign against Shahid Afridi is false and irrelevant,” the PTI leader said on X on March 23.
“I know Shahid Afridi holds Imran Khan in high esteem and the propaganda against Shahid Afridi seems to be in the hands of those who want to settle a personal score with him.”
In his latest tweet, Marwat said he wanted to “clarify that after watching Imran Riaz Khan’s v-logs and tweets and Shahid Afridi’s statements in the past, I believe he was reckless on some points”.
“Nevertheless, we have to respect each other’s right to expression and we should avoid heads on minor issues,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ali Muhammad Khan said that Imran Khan and Shahid Afridi are national heroes.
“Shahid Afridi has always considered the founder of the PTI as a hero and has stated that time and again,” said Ali, adding that if any statement made by Afridi is inappropriate, it would be his personal opinion.
Mashwani asks Marwat to delete his tweet
PTI social media activist Azhar Mashwani responded to Marwat’s statement on Afridi and the social media team, saying that he should delete his tweet.
Quoting Marwat’s statement about responding to false propaganda from PTI’s platform, Mashwani said that PTI’s platform promotes Imran Khan’s narrative, not propaganda.
Mashwani told Marwat that if he had any complaint about the internal matter of the party, then he has all kinds of forums to raise the matter.
“Every other day you [Marwat] publishing a statement on a party leader or an internal party issue diverts the attention of our supporters on social media from important topics and groups with different views start fighting each other,” he added.
‘Imran Khan was my idol’: Afridi
On the other hand, Afridi, speaking about the criticism, said that it has become difficult to distinguish between truth and lies.
“The difference between a journalist and a troll is that the former investigates because slandering someone is the easiest thing to do,” said the former cricketer.
“I stand by my words that Imran Khan was my role model and I started playing cricket because of him, otherwise I would not have become a cricketer. My narrative will not change because of lies and propaganda and it will not serving the PTI nor Imran Khan,” he wrote while posting the tweet of journalist Imran Riaz.
