PTI reiterates demand of JC to probe May 9 mayhem

PTI leaders stood firm on Tuesday, reiterating their call for setting up an empowered judicial commission, free from military sway, to dig into the May 9 incidents.

However, the party urged for all the “stolen evidence”, including crucial CCTV footage, to be laid bare before the commission to bring the masterminds, perpetrators and abettors of last year's turmoil to justice.

The demand came just ahead of May 9's first anniversary and mere hours after a blistering press conference by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif, who took aim at PTI.

The demand was not only voiced by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar and imprisoned founding chairman Imran Khan but also by PTI Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan.

A year after the May 9 mayhem, which was declared a ‘Black Day’ by the military, the PTI and the military establishment once again came face-to-face on Tuesday when they accused each other of their alleged involvement in last year’s violent events.

On May 9, 2023, the installations of the security establishment were attacked allegedly by enraged PTI activists and supporters after the law enforcement authorities arrested their party’s founding chairman from the premises of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on charges of corruption.

Read more: Army stresses action against May 9 perpetrators, says 'nothing hidden' about riots

Back then, the PTI declared that arresting Imran would be tantamount to crossing its red line. Following the attacks on its installations including its martyrs’ memorials, the military declared May 9 as a 'Black Day', describing it as a “dark chapter” of the country’s history.

Addressing the media following a meeting with the former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, Barrister Gohar reiterated his party’s demand to constitute a judicial commission to probe May 9 events.

However, in an unprecedented rebuttal to the military spokesperson’s press conference, the PTI spokesperson separately held a press conference to respond to allegations levelled by the military’s spokesperson.

“DG ISPR’s presser a pack of lies, full of contradictions, venomous, devoid of logic,” Raoof responded, saying a judicial commission should be tasked to probe, what PTI says was a false-flag operation, to bring the orchestrators, perpetrators and facilitators of May 9 to justice. He felt that the ISPR’s press conference would harm the relations between the state and the people.

The PTI spokesperson said that “the May 9 false flag operation was a well-planned conspiracy aimed at dismantling PTI” but added that it was rejected by the public on February 8, 2024, general elections.

During the press conference, Raoof questioned the factors that propelled DG ISPR to address “such an irrational, illogical and venomous press conference to target the country’s biggest political force.”

Responding to DG ISPR's statement that there was no threat to democracy, Raoof said that the military spokesperson was right when he said that there was no threat to democracy as it doesn’t exist right now in the country, asking how can something be in danger if it doesn’t even exist.

He added there was a dictatorship in the country right now.

Also read: Imran was aware of cipher's sensitivity, FIA tells IHC

The party spokesperson claimed that multiple attempts were made to target PTI. “However, as time passes and their frustration increases, there has been an increase in the intensity and venom targeting the PTI,” he added. Raoof stated that DG ISPR eventually showed willingness that a judicial commission be constituted to probe the May 9 incidents but attached certain conditions.

Raoof asserted that the judicial commission must be constituted as PTI had been demanding for the last year “but not subservient to the military” so that the nation could know the truth whether PTI is responsible for the tragic May 9 incident or those who are accusing PTI.

He went on to say that PTI openly challenged DG ISPR’s assertions and they should present all the shreds of evidence related to May 9 and PTI would present its proof in this regard before the judicial commission to establish how and why the May 9 incidents occurred.

Raoof stated that the judicial commission should investigate the 2014 sit-in but PTI demands that the commission should also extend its scope to hold a transparent probe into May 9 incidents, regime change conspiracy, stolen mandate through blatant poll rigging on February 8, assassination attempt on PTI Founding Chairman Imran Khan, the cypher conspiracy, audio/video leaks, enforced disappearances and the political engineering in the country to dismantle PTI.

PTI CIS emphasized that the judicial commission should be constituted now to bring the actual culprits of the May 9 incidents before the nation so that no one could hold a press conference against PTI every two months.

Raoof said that DG ISPR claimed that all the visuals of the May 9 incidents were captured by the eye of the camera, but questioned where all the CCTV footage relating to Imran Khan’s arrest and corps commander's house and others, saying they disappeared seemingly to cover the crime.

About DG ISPR’s attempt to distort facts regarding election results that PTI has only 7% of the popular vote, Raoof stated: "There is a limit to lies,” adding that PTI is the country’s largest political party, having representation in every province of the country with over 170 national assembly seats.

PTI CIS stated that political parties fraudulently imposed on the nation would not be able to gather 2,000 people but if PTI was allowed it would gather over 200,000 people within no time. “Let’s see if the public is with them or with the person who has been unjustly imprisoned in Adiala for a year,” he added.

Raoof also refuted the allegation that PTI was a ‘terrorist group’, saying a political party doesn’t become a terrorist group and people wouldn’t believe it if a person says so. He said that it was not PTI but those who hijacked the election, blocked Twitter and unleashed a reign of terror for the past two years were responsible for spreading chaos and anarchy in the country.

Speaking on the occasion, PTI lawyer Intazar Panjutha, who met Imran Khan in jail on Tuesday, said that the former premier has seconded the proposal to investigate May 9 events but has also put forward three demands: on whose order he was arrested from Islamabad High Court (IHC); who stole CCTV footages of IHC; and who ordered police not to register FIRs of murders of PTI workers in the wake of May 9 saga.