Punjab govt asks PTI to surrender ‘terrorists’

Minister claims 40 rioters hiding at Imran’s residence; says no decision yet to arrest PTI chief

LAHORE:

The Punjab government asked the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to hand over some 30-40 suspects involved in the May 9 violence, who were hiding at party chairman Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence, a provincial minister said on Wednesday.

Addressing a news conference, Amir Mir, the caretaker information minister, said that if the PTI refused to hand over those “terrorists in Zaman Park to the law-enforcement agencies”, the government would be forced to take strict measures.

“Intelligence and law-enforcement agencies have identified that some 30 to 40 people, accused of attacking military installations, are hiding at Khan’s home,” the caretaker information minister told reporters.

“We’re giving an ultimatum that these terrorists should be turned over to the police, or else there will be action. Khan has 24 hours to surrender the suspects,” he continued. “Police operation will be launched if he did not comply.”

Mir said that terrorists involved in the attacks on military installations would be tried in military courts, adding that the federal governments and the caretaker Punjab governments had already approved a mechanism.

Read ‘PTI protest caused Rs145m damage to public property’

Several government private properties were torched and vandalised on May 9 following the arrest of Imran Khan. Those included military installations such as the Corps Commander’s residence in Lahore and General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Mir told reporters that the government had the evidence of continuous contact of the anti-state elements with Zaman Park at the time of the attacks on the Corps Commander House.

“The PTI has become a non-state actor like the banned TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan] after being removed from power,” he said, adding that the party no longer believed in the law and the Constitution, and challenged the writ of the state through mischief.

He urged the PTI leadership to stop patronising the miscreants and immediately hand over those involved in the heart-breaking incidents of May 9 to the law-enforcement agencies so that action could be taken against them as per the law.

“The virus of vandalism and malice is more dangerous than corona[virus] and its treatment is possible only with surgery. A major surgery is needed to completely eradicate the disease of terrorism, which will be done soon,” he stated.

The minister also said that in the last video message released by Imran Khan before his arrest on May 9, he had given a clear message to the workers of his party to carry out arson attacks in case of his arrest.

“This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that a so-called political party attacked the GHQ, the Jinnah House, Martyrs' memorials and other army installations. Earlier such attacks were carried out only by the TTP,” he said.

Mir pointed out that in the past, leaders of different political parties had not only been arrested, but many of them spent time in the Nation Accountability Bureau (NAB) custody and in prisons, but none of them provoked their workers to attack the army.

“This is the first time that the PTI, on the instructions of Imran Khan, launched unacceptable acts of terrorism against the army and the state. The law-enforcement agencies showed restraint but the miscreants crossed all limits,” he added.

He told reporters that the process of identification of the miscreants was going on with the help of the National Databse and Registration Authority (NADRA) and other agencies. “This will continue till the arrest of the last attacker,” he maintained.

Mir further said that there was a complete ban on gatherings and processions in the city. He stressed that that the government had decided to adopt a zero-tolerance policy against the miscreants, who challenged the writ of the state.

Later in a tweet, Mir rejected the claim of Imran that the Punjab police wanted to arrest him. No such decision has been taken,” Mir said. “As always, the Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman is making false claims to provoke the people,” he added.