Imran mastermind of Jinnah House attack: PM

LAHORE: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Sunday announced that miscreants involved in attacks on army installations and civil properties during the May 9 violent protests would be tried in military courts and anti-terrorism courts (ATCs), respectively.

Chairing a meeting on the law and order situation here, Shehbaz said everyone who was involved in the incidents of May 9, either in the planning or execution of violence or vandalism, would be dealt with an iron hand.

He alleged that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was the mastermind of the May 9 attacks on military installations, including Jinnah House, Lahore [corps commander’s house].

The prime minister said May 9 would always be remembered as a black day in the history of Pakistan. He said the rioters “turned into enemies of the country” and carried out the attack on the GHQ.

He said the miscreants also burned the Jinnah House and public properties on the same day. Shehbaz said that those who are involved in attacking the military installations will also be brought to book.

Berating Khan, the prime minister said: “May 9 was the darkest day in the history of Pakistan when PTI Chairman Imran Khan Niazi-led miscreants torched Quaid’s (corps commander’s) House in Lahore like the terrorists had set on fire Quaid’s Residency in Ziarat in 2013.”

He added that the PTI chief and his followers stoked terrorism and violence that amounted to anti-state acts. They caused damage to such a huge extent that even the enemies of Pakistan could not do it in the last 75 years. “Such agonising incidents will continue to haunt the nation forever,” the premier said.

The meeting under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also reviewed progress on the implementation of decisions made at the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting, held last week. Seeking progress on the legal proceedings against the culprits, the PM reiterated that during the previous meetings, it was decided that anyone involved in the incidents of planning, instigating, sloganeering and vandalism would not escape the iron claws of law.

Earlier, Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the attack on the GHQ during the May 9 violent protests was included in India’s anti-Pakistan objectives. “Pakistan’s existence was attacked on May 9. A person [Imran Khan] launched the attack just for the sake of his power,” Asif said while addressing a Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz rally, taken out to express solidarity with the armed forces in Sialkot.

He regretted how the families and heirs of the martyred would have felt when a group of vandals attacked the sacred monuments. “I never doubt anyone’s loyalty, but I doubt the intentions of those who led the attacks on May 9.”

He warned that those attacking the defence installations were enemies of the country and they would face a befitting treatment. Kh Asif reiterated that no new military courts were being established to try planners, instigators, abettors and perpetrators involved in the May 9 mayhem, confirming that the trials would be held in the existing courts.