Lahore: As the Pakistan Army vowed to bring the arsonists who attacked the civil and military installations to justice even under the stringent Army Act, former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday claimed that those who had guns and committed arson were planted amongst the demonstrators.
In response to the decisions taken by top military commanders’ meeting, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) issued a statement acknowledging the importance of the statement.
“As a responsible and the largest political institution in the federation of Pakistan, the PTI has an unwavering commitment to the constitution and democracy, and it believes that the constitution is a beacon of light for all of us at an individual as well as collective levels and solutions to the most intricate problems lie within the ambit of constitution and bounds of laws,” it said.
The PTI says that peaceful protest after its chief's illegal abduction through paramilitary troops of Rangers from within the premises of Islamabad High Court on May 9, was a natural & foreseeable reaction guaranteed by the Constitution as a fundamental right to peaceful protest to the public.
However, a plethora of irrefutable evidence is available to establish that armed miscreants entered into the peaceful gatherings, who had indulged in arson and fired live bullets on the peaceful protestors leaving dozens killed and hundreds injured.
It says this was an incident of its own nature where the general public along with political workers have been targeted through live bullets to incite confrontation between the largest political force in the country and the armed forces of Pakistan.
“PTI believes that identification of elements involved in this unusual incident of violence and chaos through a credible investigation is inevitable. Imran Khan, therefore, in his address to the nation after his release from illegal abduction on the orders of the Supreme Court on May 13 has proposed the constitution of a powerful Judicial Commission consisting of Supreme Court Judges."
"We have ample amount of evidence to present to any independent inquiry that the arson and in some places, shootings were done by agencies men who wanted to cause mayhem and blame it on PTI so the current crackdown would be justified,” the statement said.
It says it is critical that the right to decision-making should be routed back to the people of Pakistan through instantly held free, fair and credible elections so that the nation's future is anchored upon harmony instead of lasting confrontation.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Khan said: “I have consistently told my party workers that whatever the provocation they must only do peaceful protests. InshAllah, whenever there is an independent inquiry I will prove that those who had guns and those who committed arson were planted amongst the demonstrators just as they were going to do in the plan I uncovered here in this video message.”
According to the PTI, over 40 people were killed during the clashes that erupted after the arrest of Khan on May 9 and law enforcement arrested 7,000 PTI supporters including some main leaders. Dozens of civilian and military installations were set ablaze during the riots.
On Monday the top military brass vowed to bring the arsonists, who attacked the civil and military installations, to justice through trial under relevant laws of the country, including the Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act.
Chief of Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir presided over the corps commanders meeting in GHQ Rawalpindi and observed that the motive behind a well-coordinated arson plan, involving desecration of the pictures of Shuhada, monuments, burning down of historical buildings and vandalism of military installations, was executed to malign the institution and provoke it towards giving an impulsive reaction.
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