CM orders action against ‘miscreants’

Accuses former PM of fomenting anarchy in country

LAHORE:

Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz has said that no one would be allowed to disrupt the routine life of the people and rule of law would be ensured at every cost.

Addressing a meeting held to review the law and order situation, he asserted that indiscriminate action would be taken against miscreants and the law would take its course if someone tried to take the law into their own hands.

The police and other agencies would take every step to protect the life and property of the people and national interest would be protected while rising above the politics, he stressed.

The chief minister said every step would be taken for the country as it's time to save Pakistan.

PML-N leaders Sardar Awais Leghari and Ataullah Tarar, the provincial chief secretary, inspector general of police, additional chief secretary home, Lahore capital city police officer and other officials attended the meeting.

The chief minister also attended the funeral of Constable Kamal Ahmad who had lost his life reportedly due to firing by a PTI activist.

He paid tribute to the sacrifice of the martyred constable who offered his life in the line of duty and said the attacker would be taken to task.

Talking to the media after the funeral prayers, Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz said PTI chairman Imran Khan would not be allowed to play havoc with the law.

He alleged that the former prime minister wanted to create anarchy in the country and politicians were at loggerheads because of him.

"Imran should look at the sobs of the son of the martyred Constable Kamal Ahmad. It is the result of hatred that you have sown in the hearts of workers," he said.

The chief minister said he had spent 22 months in jail and he would not take revenge but love for the country demanded that "if you spread chaos in the guise of politics, play with the constitution and carry out a suicide attack on the country, in the guise of democracy, then the law will come into action".

He said Imran had spread the fire of hatred all over Pakistan.

The chief minister said a difficult decision had been taken to stop the politics of anarchy.

He said he knew that arrests would expose him to criticism regarding his democratic role, but the PTI had already staged a 126-day sit-in in Islamabad after being told not to go to the 'red zone'. They took the law into their own hands and used axes, knives, sticks and cranes in the dark of night to enter the red zone and vandalise it.

He said Imran's supporters were openly threatening that it would be a bloody march.

The CM apologised to the people for difficulties due to road blockades but said it was a temporary inconvenience.

"For four years, you gave people nothing but hunger. More than 21 people died in snow in Murree, but you did not send the helicopter to rescue them on which you went to office every day," the CM concluded.

Chief Minister Hamza asserted in a tweet earlier in the day that the PTI had resorted to violence and conspired to instigate unrest in the country.

He said the mischief would spread in the entire country if those playing havoc with the law and the constitution were not contained.

Such anti-state activities would be dealt with sternly, he added.

A PPP delegation led by MPA Hasan Murtaza aso called on the chief minister.

Both leaders discussed the political situation and condemned what they termed undemocratic tactics of the PTI. The law would take its own course, the chief minister added.

Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz also met the families of nine persons who were killed in firing by a gang on October 10 last year in Rahim Yar Khan.

He said the attackers would be brought to justice by conducting a coordinated operation in collaboration with the line departments.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2022.