'This is not a joke': PM vows to bring May 9 rioters to justice

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday said that the protestors that attacked military installations following Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan's arrest on May 9 will be tried "according to their laws as per the Constitution". The premier maintained that those found to be guilty of involvement in attacks on civilian state installations will be tried under anti-terrorism laws and those guilty of vandalising sensitive military installations will be tried under the army act. #Live: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressing the meeting regarding law and order situation in Lahore https://t.co/fFrQYDwTRy — Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) May 21, 2023 These decisions he said were taken in the crucial meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) last Tuesday. The meeting chaired by PM Shehbaz Sharif and attended by senior cabinet ministers, services chiefs, DG ISI and other relevant officials, had promised to bring those behind the violent protests last week to justice. On Monday, Army Chief Gen Asim Munir chaired a corps commanders conference, which decided that perpetrators, planners and executors of such attacks would be tried under Pakistani laws, including the Army Act and the Official Secret Act. The participants of the NSC meeting had endorsed the decision of the corps commanders conference, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) after the meeting. Read May 9 Black Day: shock-and-awe response “The meeting endorsed the decision to initiate trials against the perpetrators, conspirators, and facilitators under relevant laws including the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secrets Act, to ensure justice,” the statement had read. The meeting had declared May 9 as a black day at the national level and expressed full solidarity and support with the armed forces of Pakistan. The participants of the meeting also paid rich tributes to the martyrs and their families. "This is not a joke," the premier exclaimed today as he addressed a press conference taking stock of the damage caused by the protestors. "The events related to May 9, even at the cost of my reputation, I would admit would go down in history as a Black Day," said PM Shehbaz. Read More May 9 riots were Pakistan's ‘9/11 attack' on its national interests: Iqbal "The terrorism committed by the mob on orders of Imran Niazi [Khan] achieved goals that even the worst enemies of the country could not in the past 75 years," he continued. He drew similarities between the sensitive state installations attacked by the angry mobs and terrorist attacks the country has witnessed in the past. "It has been decided [by the government] that no individual will be spared, whether they were involved in planning, instigation, propagating foul words [against the state] or vandalism," he said, "nobody will be allowed to run away from the law". The meeting was then briefed by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and acting chief minister Punjab as well as secretary prosecution Punjab on the progress of cases against those involved in the protests based on reports by provincial governments of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.