No room for dialogue with planners, attackers of May 9, says Sarfraz Bugti

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti has said that in his view, there is no room for any dialogue with the attackers and planners of May 9.

Talking to The News, he said like the caretaker government, President Dr Arif Alvi also has a limited role, as the latter has completed his tenure.

The interior minister was contacted for his comment on PTI’s request to President Arif Alvi for initiation of the dialogue process between PTI, other political parties and the military establishment.

Sarfraz Bugti, who is presently visiting China as part of Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar’s delegation, said officially there is nothing under consideration in relation to the dialogue process between political parties, including PTI, and the establishment.

He, however, insisted he always said the May 9 violence was an organised and well-planned attack against the state of Pakistan. He said the planners and perpetrators of May 9 attacks should be punished and the writ of the government in this regard must not be compromised. He said in his view there is no question of getting into the dialogue process with such elements.

The PTI has approached the president with the request to initiate a dialogue process between the PTI, political parties and the military establishment. It is not clear as yet whether the president would make any such initiative or not.

In the past before the May 9 attacks, the president had reportedly made an effort for a contact between Imran Khan and the present military establishment, but it failed. Imran and the PTI leaders have been admitting the establishment is not talking to the PTI at any level.

Before the appointment of the incumbent Army Chief, President Arif Alvi had said he was trying in his personal capacity to bring the stakeholders together and resolve their differences to reduce political polarisation in the national interest.

Without divulging further details, the president had said although it was not his constitutional role to end the impasse, he was trying to mediate between the sides to defuse the tensions.

He had further said PTI chief Imran Khan had authorised him to put forward his demands of early elections to the establishment, underscoring he was merely mediating between the sides and “not brokering any deal for anyone”. Later, it was revealed the president had arranged in the Presidency a meeting between Imran Khan and former Army Chief Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.

In the wake of May 9 attacks, the president appears to be in an awkward position to initiate the dialogue process as is the desire of PTI, which under Imran Khan is considered by the military authorities responsible for the attacks. In the post-May 9 situation, the military authorities repeatedly referred to the May 9 conspiracy and the “mastermind” and “planners” but avoided directly naming anyone.

However, a day before May 9, the ISPR in a press release had responded to Imran Khan’s statement against some senior military officials, saying, “PTI chairman has levelled highly irresponsible and baseless allegations against a serving senior military officer without any evidence. These fabricated and malicious allegations are extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable.”

The May 8 press release had added, “This has been a consistent pattern for the last one year, wherein military and intelligence agencies officials are targeted with insinuations and sensational propaganda for the furtherance of political objectives. We ask the political leader concerned to make recourse to legal avenues and stop making false allegations. The institution reserves the right to take legal course of action against patently false and mala fide statements and propaganda.”