[Chairman Imran Khan's Press Statement on GEO]

Chairman PTI, Imran Khan, today demanded that Geo should apologise to the Pakistani nation for its baseless
allegations and media vilification of the Pakistan army and ISI at a time when Pakistan is confronting security
threats and terrorism from within the country and externally. He said while all state institutions must function
within the law and Constitution, it is unacceptable that media houses launch campaigns against any institution
without adopting the legal route of providing proof and approaching the Courts.
Khan observed that It was ironic how subjective Geo's accusatory approach is given its inability in the past to
name known killers belonging to or affiliated with certain political parties who killed journalists like Wali Babar
with impunity.
Khan added that Geo had also aided and abetted in the general election rigging from prematurely announcing
the results when barely 30% of the results had come in, to pre-electoral polls fixed to give certain outcomes.
In the interests of an independent media, PTI kept silent despite seeing that Geo/Jang group had effectively
become a surrogate media cell for PMLN and reaped financial rewards including cricket broadcasting rights.
However now Geo has gone too far by conducting a deliberate campaign to malign the military and demoralise
our soldiers. The ambiguous government posturing on this issue is equally condemnable.
PTI stands by a strong independent media and has always held the patriotism and integrity of journalists like
Hamid Mir and Ansar Abbasi in the highest regard and respect. But the Geo media house has exploited the
situation to carry forward an agenda of baseless targeting of the military and ISI for which it should apologise to
the nation.