Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Raoof Hasan maintained contacts with Indian journalist Karan Thapar through WhatsApp after American Rain Garam and allegedly urged him to publish negative narrative against Pakistan Army.
On November 19, 2022, Raoof Hasan, acting as the party’s media coordinator, reached out to Indian journalist Karan Thapar. In the initial WhatsApp message, Thapar inquired about a potential interview with Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
On November 24, 2022, Karan Thapar shared a YouTube interview with Rana Banerjee, a former RAW officer, with Raoof Hasan. The interview discussed the current Army Chief, General Asim Munir, with Thapar describing him as a hardliner for India.
The following day, on November 25, 2022, Karan Thapar sent another WhatsApp message to Raoof Hasan, sharing a Pakistani journalist’s interview about General Asim Munir.
In response, Rauf Hasan dismissed the Pakistani journalist as unreliable and shared sensitive information about the Army Chief with Thapar.
Sources have confirmed that in a WhatsApp message sent in February 2023, Raoof Hasan praised India’s stance on the Ukraine issue while strongly criticizing Pakistan’s position.
Hasan remarked, “India’s position is understandable in the context of its desire to remain neutral.” He went on to accuse Pakistan of secretly supplying weapons to Ukraine, despite not participating in the United Nations vote.
In March 2023, Rauf Hasan sent a series of provocative messages to Karan Thapar, labeling the arrests of PTI members as state violence and warning that “Pakistan looks ready for a bloody revolution.”
Sources further confirm that on May 10, 2023, Rauf Hasan recorded an interview with Karan Thapar via Zoom. T
he next day, Hasan sent a WhatsApp message to Thapar in which he misrepresented the routine movements of various Pakistan Army units, claiming that “Pakistan’s streets are witnessing full military mobilization” and suggesting that the country was under “an undeclared martial law.”
Rauf Hasan also urged Karan Thapar to publish negative narratives against the Pakistan Army.