ISLAMABAD – Social media sites were rife with posts that a senior officerof an institution roughed up Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the highestoffice of the land.
Amid reports, the ‘Thapar Sharif’ started trending on social media, withtop journalists, politicians, activists and social media sharingcontrasting posts.
It all occurred at a time when the country of nearly 230 million is goingthrough a period of political turmoil, with defiant politician Imran Khanplanning to storm the capital.
The formal process to appoint the next Chief of Army Staff also garneredattention while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who usually spends hisweekends in the provincial capital Lahore, stayed in the capital inanticipation of the announcement.
However, these social media posts were deemed fake by people aware of thedevelopment.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also trashed the notion that there were anydifferences between the federal government and the institution over theappointment of the top general.
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Several government critics including Imran Riaz Khan and Sami Ibrahim wereamong hundreds of people who posted about the alleged torture.
Several unverified accounts on Twitter claimed the premier was slapped ashe asked the outgoing general to step down over the weekend and pick hisfavourite candidate for the coveted post.
The trending event gave way to desi humour as users started sharing memesand poking fun at the premier.
Such rumours started trending ahead of crucial changes in thecivil-military reshuffle. Earlier this year, several supporters ofthen-opposition PML-N claimed that ousted PM Imran Khan was slapped.