PTI senators reject ‘divide’ army, people narrative

Lawmakers pass resolution condemning May 9 violence

ISLAMABAD:

The PTI senators on Friday adopted a resolution condemning the violence that occurred on May 9 in the wake of the party chairman’s arrest as well as rejecting any act or narrative of trying to create a wedge between the country's people and the army.

The parliamentary party of the PTI in the Senate held a meeting wherein they deplored the attacks on civil and military installations that took place on May 9. They later passed a resolution to denounce them. The resolution read that the PTI senators condemned the events of May 9 and wanted a transparent investigation into them.

It added that the perpetrators behind these actions should be brought to justice. The document stated that the desecration of martyrs’ memorials, damage to national property and attacks on defence installations were unacceptable.

It added that the strong armed forces were indispensable to deal with the challenges facing Pakistan's security.
The resolution stated that there was a relationship of love and trust between the people of Pakistan and its armed forces. The PTI senators wrote in the resolution that they rejected every act and narrative that created a rift in this relationship. They also expressed their solidarity with the families of the country’s martyrs.

Last month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stressed the need for treating the May 9 mayhem culprits in the same manner in which the US punished the people involved in the attack on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021.

He also said that the “conspiracy” behind the May 9 violence – triggered in the wake of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest from the premises of the Islamabad High Court by dozens of Rangers personnel in connection with a corruption case – was hatched abroad. The premier alleged that the PTI protesters, on Imran’s instructions, attacked the memorials of martyrs as well as military installations.

The attackers of the Capitol Hill faced exemplary punishment, Shehbaz said, referring to the incident where a mob of supporters of the then outgoing President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.
The attack disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump had lost to his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden. Around 80 of the attackers were sentenced to 18 years in jail.

On May 9, the social media was flooded with video clips of a mob clashing with police in Karachi, attacking the army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi and vandalising Lahore’s Jinnah House, where the city’s corps commander was residing. The Radio Pakistan’s building in Peshawar was also set on fire.

The National Security Committee decided to observe May 9 as “Black Day” at the national level. It endorsed the corps commanders' decision to book cases against the miscreants, planners, instigators and facilitators involved in these acts and try them in military courts.

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