Tag: Major General Asif Ghafoor

  • Afridi, Reema, Humayun Saeed thank former DG ISPR Gen Asif Ghafoor for his services

    Afridi, Reema, Humayun Saeed thank former DG ISPR Gen Asif Ghafoor for his services

    Former DG ISPR, Major General Asif Ghafoor, who was a key figure in the liasons between the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) and the entertainment industry has bid goodbye to his post. He has been transferred to the 40th Infantry Division (Okara), where he will serve as the general officer commanding (GOC). Gen Asif Ghafoor has been replaced by Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar.

    “Thanks to everyone I have remained associated with during the tenure,” Maj Gen Ghafoor wrote on Twitter as news of his transfer broke.

    Following his transfer, members of the film and sports fraternity including Humayun Saeed, Shahid Afridi, Reema and Shaan took to social media to appreciate the officer and his services.

    https://twitter.com/SAfridiOfficial/status/1217872486336847873?s=20

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B7bnPASBS2g/
  • DG ISPR Gen Asif Ghafoor praises Deepika for being ‘a brave person’

    DG ISPR Gen Asif Ghafoor praises Deepika for being ‘a brave person’

    DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor praised #DeepikaPadukone for being a brave person and “standing both with youth and the truth.”

    However, later he deleted his tweet for reasons unknown.

    Deepika won the appreciation of the public after she visited Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to stand in solidarity with the students who were protesting after masked assailants wielding batons and iron rods attacked the university leaving more than two dozen injured.

    According to an Indian journalist, the masked mob was linked to a BJP linked student group. They barged into hostel rooms and assaulted left-wing students and also beat up visually impaired people. There were reports that they were carrying acid as well.

    Deepika’s presence at the protest signifies that she is most likely standing with them in protest of these BJP-linked attacks and not the tuition fees hike protests that had been happening at the university earlier. The hostel fee hike is an ongoing issue and protests were held against it previously.

    Read more: ‘Mad respect’ for Deepika Padukone after she stands in solidarity with JNU students attacked by BJP supporters

    Previously, in a media interaction when asked about the ongoing protests, Deepika had said that she is proud that the students are not scared of expressing themselves.

    “I feel proud about it that people are coming out – be it on the streets or wherever they are – they are raising their voice and expressing themselves as it is important. If we want to see change in life and society, it is important that a point of view be put forward,” Deepika had said.

    Meanwhile, several other Bollywood personalities including Vishal Bharadwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dia Mirza, Rahul Bose, Richa Chadha and Taapsee Pannu led hundreds of people in a peaceful protest against the violence.

  • ‘Pakistan has got its act together’: Indian cybersecurity praises DG ISPR Gen Asif Ghafoor

    ‘Pakistan has got its act together’: Indian cybersecurity praises DG ISPR Gen Asif Ghafoor

    India’s cybersecurity chief on Saturday stressed the need for a unified public relations command for the three wings of the armed forces to ensure an upper hand in the narrative warfare with Pakistan, which, he opined, has “got its act together” through its Director General Inter Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor.

    According to a report in India Today, National Cyber Security Coordinator Lieutenant General Rajesh Pant (retd) while speaking at a seminar said the three wings of the armed forces have their own public relations officers and “they are going in different ways”.

    “When are we going to have our own equivalent of the DGISPR,” he is reported to have said, adding, “The (Indian armed forces) services have their own PRs and they are going in different ways.”

    Pant remarked that Pakistan has got “its act together” in narrative warfare because of DG ISPR.

    Elaborating further Pant said, “When they (DGISPR) conduct narrative warfare, let’s say in the case of Kashmir, the message they send to Europe is that human rights are being infringed. When they engage with Islamic nations they tell them that Islam is under threat. And what they told Southeast Asia is that there is a regional instability.”

    “So, they seem to have got their act together,” he concluded.

    Meanwhile, General Asif Ghafoor also took to social media to share his reaction.

  • ‘Only a Bollywood dream’: DG ISPR Gen Asif Ghafoor slams Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film on Balakot ‘airstrike’

    ‘Only a Bollywood dream’: DG ISPR Gen Asif Ghafoor slams Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film on Balakot ‘airstrike’

    Not like we didn’t see this coming, but award-winning filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Bushan Kumar have announced a film on the Balakot ‘airstrike’.

    According to details, the film will be written and directed by Abhishek Kapoor. The cast has not yet been announced.

    https://twitter.com/itsBhushanKumar/status/1205365844458360832?s=20

    DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor had a few thoughts on the matter which he voiced on Twitter.

    Previously, Vivek Oberoi had also announced a film on IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

    “As a proud Indian, a patriot, and a member of the film fraternity, it’s my duty to highlight what our Armed Forces are truly capable of. In the form of a trilingual, this film is a powerful tool to underline the achievements of brave officers like Wing Commander Abhinandan, who went behind the enemy lines and did what makes every Indian proud of them,” Vivek had said while announcing the film, which is expected to release in 2020. It will be shot in the backdrop of Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Agra.

    BALAKOT INCIDENT

    Following the Pulwama incident in which 44 Indian paramilitary soldiers lost their lives, two Indian aircraft entered Pakistani air space on February 27, 2019 for the second time in two days, engaged with Pakistan Air Force (PAF), and as a result, were shot down.

    The wreckage of one of the planes landed in Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), and the wreckage of the other plane landed in the Indian-occupied Kasmir (IoK), Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had confirmed at the time.

    Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was held captive following the aerial dogfight, was handed over to India on March 1 in a peace gesture after PM Imran had announced to release him in an attempt to “de-escalate tensions” between the two countries.

  • Koyi Shak, asks D.G. ISPR after report uncovers fake media outlets run by India

    EU Disinfo Lab, an independent non-governmental organization, has found that there are at least 265 “coordinated fake local media outlets” that were “designed to influence the EU (European Union) and the UN (United Nations) by repeatedly criticising Pakistan”.

    The report shows how the NGO investigated and found that Indian stakeholders are deliberately trying to influence countries against Pakistan by getting stories posted on sites like eptoday.com, which is “the website of a self-proclaimed magazine for the European Parliament in Brussels”. After investigating the site and the increasing anti Pakistan articles and op-eds, the Disinfo Lab found a pattern that matched 265 fake local media outlets, including timesofgeneva.com, “an online “newspaper” that is “approaching 35 years in business”. Strangely enough, Times of Geneva publishes the same type of content as EP Today and produces videos covering events and demonstrations criticising Pakistan’s role in the Kashmir conflict.”

    After the report was published, D.G. ISPR tweeted that koyi shak (any doubt), hinting that there was zero doubt that India is trying to influence the world against Pakistan by publishing fake news.

    RELATED: DG ISPR defends Neelum Muneer’s item song in ‘Kaaf Kangana’

    Other findings from the report include that most of the fake outlets are named after an outdated newspaper or are fake versions of real media outlets. They also republish content from agencies and have little original content. It also showed that the coverage was mostly of the same Indian-related demonstrations and events and also republications of the same anti-Pakistan content.

  • Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor reacts to Cyril Almeida’s ‘RIP ISPR’ tweet

    Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor reacts to Cyril Almeida’s ‘RIP ISPR’ tweet

    Reacting to journalist and former Dawn assistant editor Cyril Almeida’s tweet, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) chief Major General Asif Ghafoor has called him out over his “unwarranted assertion”.

    “RIP ISPR, PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf], etc…” Almeida tweeted Thursday while quoting a statement by Twitter Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jack Dorsey, who had announced the microblogging website’s decision to block political advertisements all across the globe.

    https://twitter.com/cyalm/status/1189640211493478403

    Retweeting the journalist with a comment, the ISPR director general (DG) challenged him to prove his claims pertaining to alleged adverts by the military’s media wing.

    https://twitter.com/peaceforchange/status/1189771746251071488

    “Dear @cyalm [Almeida], quote one such instance by ISPR [so as] to validate your unwarranted assertion. In case you fail, I wishfully expect a moral obligation from you. Should you succeed, I will take your advice,” Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted.

    It wasn’t later that the journalist responded to the ISPR chief.

    https://twitter.com/cyalm/status/1189784213194715136

    “Was a joke, Gen sb… a bit of (apparently failed) humour in this space where we are all prisoners of Twitter and its policies… maybe @jack [Dorsey] will turn his attention to the trend wars next… [sic],” Almeida said.

    TWITTER BANS POLITICAL ADS:

    Earlier, CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted that the social networking site will be banning all political advertisements — albeit with “a few exceptions” like voter registration.

    “We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought,” Dorsey said.

    While it’s not totally clear how broad those exceptions will be, it sounds like the ban will apply to both ads endorsing candidates and ads advocating a position on political issues.

    Dorsey said the company will share the final policy by November 15, and that it will start enforcing the same on November 22.

    “Internet political ads present entirely new challenges to civic discourse: machine learning-based optimization of messaging and micro-targeting, unchecked misleading information, and deep fakes,” he wrote. “All at increasing velocity, sophistication, and overwhelming scale.”

    This came after Facebook faced heavy criticism around its refusal to fact-check political advertising (even as it took steps to fight election-related misinformation elsewhere), with employees of the social media giant writing an open letter objecting to the company’s stance.

    Dorsey didn’t mention Facebook by name in his tweets, but he seemed to allude to the company’s position when he wrote, “For instance, it‘s not credible for us to say: ‘We’re working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, buuut if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political ad…well…they can say whatever they want! ????‘ [sic].”