CM Gandapur delivered a scathing speech last week at the PTI rally, branding journalists as “sycophants” and “sellouts” and charging them with yielding to pressure from the government and establishment.
Gandapur challenged them, saying he would face them with the support of the country, and said they could “write whatever you want.” In addition, he used disparaging and sexist language toward female journalists and pushed his followers to “identify and expose such journalists” around the world.
Many journalist organizations, human rights organizations, and politicians denounced his statement, and the Press Council of Pakistan (PCP) demanded that he provide an apology.
Gandapur’s remarks, according to PTI founder Imran Khan, were improper. He asserted that the CM should not have made such disparaging remarks about journalists while addressing the media on Thursday outside Adiala Jail, saying that he had “spoken a bit too much in his rhetoric.”
