May 9 not just about army but entire Pakistan: DG ISPR Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif addressed a press conference in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.
The army spokesperson’s press conference came just two days before May 9 — a day that holds significant importance in the country’s political landscape as it was on this day last year when military installations came under attack following PTI founder Imran Khan’s arrest, which formed the basis of a severe state crackdown against him and his party.
In the question and answer sessions, Gen Sharif was asked about May 9, to which he said: “Firstly, May 9 is not just the Pak Army’s case but the entire country.
“If, in any country, an attack is launched on its army, symbols of its martyrs are insulted, its founder’s house is set on fire, hatred is created between its army and public, and if the people behind it are not brought to justice, then there is a question mark on that country’s justice system.
“We believe that if we have to maintain trust in the justice system of Pakistan, then May 9 perpetrators — both the doers and those commanding them — must be sentenced according to the Constitution and the law.
“Nothing is hidden about May 9. The public and the army and we all have irrefutable evidence. All of us saw this incident unfolding, we all saw how everyone was [brainwashed] against the army, its leadership, agencies, institutions through lies and propaganda.”
The army official said that on May 9, “some political leaders” issued orders to their supporters to selectively target military installations.
“When this became public, another lie and propaganda was created that this was a ‘false flag operation’ and ‘we do not know what happened or who did it’.
“For such people, it is said: ’you can fool all the people some of the times, some of the people all the times but you cannot fool all the people all the times.
“The question is: has this happened for the first time in the world? Incidents of lesser degree have been done in the past so what do other countries do?
“In August 2011, London riots took place, and after that the criminal court system came into action. They even punished children under the age of 18.
“In Capitol Hill riots […], there was no judicial commission. The people were identified and sentenced strictly. On June 27, 2023, Paris riots happened and their judicial system immediately came into action.
“I have given the examples that our elite does not get tired of quoting. [The punishments were given] so that such an incident was not repeated, so that such cliques, with incitement and specific political and poisonous aims, do not get the chance to attack the state whenever they want.”
Regarding the PTI’s demand that a judicial commission be created to ascertain the facts of the May 9 riots, the DG ISPR said: “Fine, we are ready, make a judicial commission but if you have to, then go to the root of this entire incident.
The judicial commission should also determine what the goals of the 2014 dharna (sit-in) were and how the Parliament was attacked. It should also look into the PTV attack that how people were encouraged to stand against the state, indulge in civil disobedience, burn utility bills.“
The Commission, the army spokesperson said, should also investigate “how Islamabad was attacked in 2016 with KP’s federal resources, and then again in 2022.”
“It must also see how letters were written to the IMF and lobbying was conducted abroad so that Pakistan would not be given loans and fall into a state of default.”
Source: Dawn News
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