Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Wednesday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) approach towards its opponents and critics is "reminiscent of Salem witch trials."
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in a statement issued shortly after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested the party's senior leader Khursheed Shah from Islamabad, condemned the PTI government's attempts to launch a witch-hunt against the media as well after holding opposition leaders hostage through NAB.
"The way they deal with their opponents and critics is reminiscent of the Salem witch trials. Based on frivolity and falsehoods, the PTI's narrative is right out of Goebbels' propaganda playbook," he said.
The PPP chairman said now that the government has found an easy way to imprison its political opponents by unleashing NAB and it is going after its critics in media through these so-called media tribunals. These tribunals will be nothing but another way of silencing dissent. The PTI's social media team follows the exact same path of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "bhakts" who discredit and harass the critics online. Now they want to go after media organisations through these special tribunals because the media is exposing the select Prime Minister's ineptitude and incompetence, he added. Bilawal made it clear that the PPP will not let this bill pass at any cost.
"We stand for the freedom of media. Pakistan's media is going through its worst phase of censorship under the Niazi regime. We will not allow them to target the media so blatantly and brazenly. Enough is enough.