Govt warns PTI of 'strict action' over protests

Marriyum says rioting 'unacceptable', censures PTI leadership for 'instigation'

ISLAMABAD:

The government warned on Wednesday that strict action against protestors, who break the law, would be taken and stressed "such actions will not be tolerated".

"Whoever takes the law in their hand is neither Pakistani nor a citizen of Pakistan," said Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb in a statement as she regretted the manner in which "government buildings and houses were attacked and state property was damaged".

After Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and deposed premier Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday in connection with a corruption case, protests erupted across the country in condemnation.

Expressing her displeasure over the intensity of the chaos that followed, Marriyum said that "the whole country saw the kind of reaction that followed Imran Khan's arrest", adding that "PTI leaders instigated their workers to riot".

Read PTI lawyers permitted to enter police lines ahead of Imran's hearing

"Were the PTI's actions yesterday the [natural] response of the people?" she retorted, maintaining that the protests were instead "conducted with proper planning".

"Today they [the PTI leadership] are saying that whatever happened yesterday was not our doing," she continued, "but why did they not say this yesterday that these [protestors] are not our supporters?".

The minister also questioned why PTI's leadership did not step forward to tell their supporters not to harm public property. "No political party acts like this."

"Our leaders were also arrested," she said as she listed down the names of PML-N senior leaders including former premier Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah amongst others.

"We never acted in this manner," she stressed.

The minister also implied that the aggressive protests were nothing new for the rival party saying that "the country has been watching for the past several years what the PTI is doing".