Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Tuesday that the people involved in the May 9 riots must be punished as per the law.
“The issue of May 9 riots is not limited to the Pakistan Army but [in fact] concerns the whole nation,” said the General during a rare press conference.
The military spokesperson also emphasized that dialogue should take place between the politicians rather than institutions and said, “No talks will be held with any political leader, or group which attacks its own army and indulges in propaganda [against them].”
“There can be no dialogue with an anarchist group,” he said firmly, adding that the “only way forward for the anarchists [group] is to apologise sincerely [for their acts], abandon the politics of hate and indulge in constructive politics [instead]”.
DG ISPR remarked, “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.'”
When the General was asked about PTI’s demand of a judicial commission to probe the entire May 9 events, he replied, “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 Parliament was attacked. It should also look into the PTV attack and how people were encouraged to stand against the state, indulge in civil disobedience, and 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.”
PTI’s response to DG ISPR’s press briefing
