People say that Director General [DG] of Pakistan army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations [ISPR] Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary gets memed so often on social media because he invariably tends to get aggressive and go overboard while issuing statements. But then, what other option does a person [who more often than not] has to defend the indefensible, have?
During his interview to a private TV channel last Wednesday, Lt Gen Chaudhary sought to defend the bombing of Kabul’s Omid Hospital, a 2000-bed drug de-addiction and rehabilitation center by the Pakistan Air Force in which 408 people were killed and 265 injured. However, rather than providing convincing answers, he ended up creating further doubts regarding this attack in the minds of many.

Omid Hospital: a Rehab Center or Military Facility?

According to DGISPR, Pakistan had targeted a military camp and drone site on March 16 in Kabul, and not a hospital, citing “secondary detonations” as proof of stored ammunition exploding to buttress his claim. Then he turned aggressive and demanded that “Someone [should] ask them why have you made a drug rehab centre in the middle of an ammunition storage. Which hospital in the world is there that is made beside ammo [ammunition] storage where you have kept missiles and ammunition.”
However, Reuters has reported witnesses saying that they heard three bombs exploding just as people in the rehab centre were completing ⁠evening prayers, and that two of them struck rooms and patient areas. Details provided by independent agencies that visited the targeted site soon after the attack also contradict DGISPR’s account.
In its statement, the Norwegian Refugee Council has mentioned that "We visited the hospital treating addicts in Kabul this morning and found hundreds of civilians dead and injured." [Emphasis added]. Similarly, speaking from Kabul via video-link, UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan Susan Ferguson told a UN briefing that she had driven past the incident site and the scene was “devastating,” adding that "There were many families there trying to find their loved ones." [Emphasis added]
Finally, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has issued a statement acknowledging that dozens were killed and injured at "Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital." So, in the end it’s the word of the UN Assistance Mission against that of Lt Gen Chaudhary, who insists that the hospital was “never there" and no prizes for rightly guessing who the people would believe.

Who is “Discredited and Dishonest”?

DGISPR has tried his best to attack Kabul’s credibility by mentioning specific instances, like how “the Taliban regime, which, 10 days ago, even claimed a Pakistani pilot was targeted while in civilian clothes,” adding that “The same account that makes these claims posts this, and then deletes it.” He unilaterally proclaimed that the world knows that the Taliban regime is “discredited and dishonest.” While Lt Gen Chaudhary has made a good case, the point in question is that does ISPR’s past record instill confidence as regards truthful reporting?
Readers would recall that during the 1999 Indo-Pak Kargil Conflict, ISPR had claimed that the intruders were mujahideen and not Pakistan army regulars and to support this brazen lie, Rawalpindi even went so far as to disown the mortal remains of its rank and file killed in combat. Could there possibly be a cruder attempt at disinformation? Similarly, on February 27, 2019, the then DGISPR claimed that two Indian Air Force [IAF] pilots had been captured by the Pakistan army and that one of them was undergoing treatment for his injuries in a military hospital.
However, just like the incident of the Taliban claiming to have captured a Pakistan Air Force pilot and then withdrawing this claim, DGISPR also did the same in 2019 by admitting that only one IAF pilot had been taken into custody. How did the Pakistan army’s media think that it could get away with such brazen lies that not only defies comprehension but also beats the Taliban’s attempts at misinformation by a mile?

Justifying Civilian Casualties

Since extrajudicial killing of civilians by the Pakistan army is commonplace, ISPR has over the years mastered the art of not only concealing this despicable practice but even justifying it and Lt Gen Chaudhary would definitely remember the utterly perverse “when it’s war, you have to do a lot of things- as they say, all is fair in love and war; war is very ruthless” remark made by one of his predecessor during a press conference in 2019.
Lt Gen Chaudhary’s puerile attempt to justify the air strike on the Kabul rehab centre is equally pathetic. He started off by flatly denying that the Omid Hospital had been targeted. Then he went on to claim that the rehab center suffered extensive damage due to secondary detonation of explosives stored in the so-called “ammo dump” adjacent to this facility.
Lastly, making the sweeping statement that “while all drug addicts are not suicide bombers, all suicide bombers are terrorists,” he finally concluded his incredulous narrative by admitting that “I don’t know if the Afghans killed were drug addicts, terrorist or suicide bombers.” It thus emerges that right from an outright denial to tacit acceptance, Lt Gen Chaudhary has said it all, and that’s the genius of ISPR!

The Indian ‘Hand’

No ISPR briefing would be complete without allegations of Indian involvement in sponsoring terrorist outfits/pro-freedom armed groups and existence of an anti-Pakistan nexus between New Delhi and Kabul. So, when DGISPR pointed an accusatory finger at India claiming that “They are providing rudimentary drones [to Kabul] so that their signatures can be claimed as not theirs,” it came as no surprise. However, this bizarre claim was nevertheless definitely quite amusing.
There’s no dearth of sophisticated drones in the international grey market that are capable of or can be easily modified to carry out lethal attacks. These can be conveniently procured as their cost isn’t prohibitive with confidentiality assured. So if India is indeed supplying drones to Kabul as alleged by DGISPR, would New Delhi be so naïve as to provide “rudimentary drones” that stand no chance of penetrating Pakistan’s heavily guarded air space?
When something is difficult to digest, people in Asia usually take churan- a powder made out of natural ingredients that aid digestion. Lt Gen Chaudhary or ISPR has no connection with any such herbal product. Yet, he’s being projected on social media as brand ambassador of an imaginary digestive powder named Lahori Churan [Digestive from Lahore] - an apt acknowledgement that the brazen disinformation which he peddles can’t be digested without the aid of this DGISPR Brand dietary supplement.
Whether the DGISPR takes the hint and replaces hollow rhetoric with fact however remains a million dollar question!

Email:---------------- nileshkunwar.56@gmail.com