The opponents of the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) have termed it a tool of the military as they twist words of a tweet by the information minister in their self-made context.
Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry took to his Twitter account after Defence and Martyr Day speech by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Bajwa.
The minister mentioned that COAS termed fake news and disinformation a threat to national security.
He backed the army chief’s statement saying it was based on rationale.
Read Also
Quick Response: Wasim Akram Calls Shoaib Akhtar an ‘Idiot’
However, some anti-PMDA journalists and activists drove the minister’s validation of the chief’s comments.
They said that the government has finally revealed that the new media authority is being established at the behest of the military.
آپ کا بہت شکریہ کہ آپ نے وضاحت کر دی کہ اس اتھارٹی کو لانے کے پیچھے کون ہے اور کیا مذموم مقاصد ہیں. https://t.co/OkK9uSHL4z
— Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir (@ImaanZHazir) September 7, 2021
اب سمجھ گئے PMDA کیوں لا رہے ہیں https://t.co/RLfY1Ha1QJ
— Nausheen Yusuf (@nausheenyusuf) September 7, 2021
However, those who consider fake news and disinformation a serious threat to national security like the state institutions took a dig at the journalists criticizing the establishment of PMDA.
The Twitter users commented that Pakistan appears to be the first country in the world where literate people are defending disinformation.