No dialogue with ‘anarchist group’, May 9 rioters will be punished: DG ISPR

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Army has ruled out dialogue with perpetrators and facilitators of the May 9 attacks when military installations were attacked, in a rebuke to the offer by the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that the perpetrators and facilitators of the May 9 riots need to be punished as per the Constitution and law of the land to preserve the credibility and faith in the country’s justice system.

“The issue of May 9 riots is not limited to the Pakistan Army but [in fact] concerns the whole nation,” the military’s spokesperson said, noting that the public was a witness how some people were “brainwashed” against the armed forces and said:

“We saw how some political leaders gave selected targets [to the mob]. We saw that only military installations were attacked within a span of few hours [and] you saw the public outrage when evidence for this came to limelight,” he maintained.

“The lies and deceit cannot continue […] the people accused of being involved in May 9 riots need to be punished,” said the military spokesperson.

Commenting on the prospects of dialogue with any faction, the military spokesperson said: “No talks will be held with any political leader, or group which attacks its own army and indulges in propaganda.”

“There can be no dialogue with an anarchist group,” he noted, 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]”.

“Talks are for political parties, not institutions,” the army’s spokesperson said.

On the issue of terrorism, the military’s spokesperson stressed that there is “irrefutable evidence” of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) using Afghanistan against the country and recent terrorist incidents can be traced back to Afghanistan.

Reaffirming the commitment on counter-terrorism efforts, he said the security forces would go to any extent possible to dismantle the terrorist network. The spokesperson noted

“The army chief has said that there’s no place for terrorists in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the first priority of the Pakistan Army was to maintain law and order in the country.

He revealed that more than 563,000 Afghans have been repatriated while millions continue to live here. He said the law and order situation was deteriorating because of the Afghan citizens present in Pakistan.