News
May 10, 2024
Only Way Back for PTI Is if It Offers an Earnest Apology and Forgoes Politics of Anarchy: DG ISPR
Rawalpindi: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif on Tuesday said that any dialogue with the PTI could happen only if it “earnestly apologizes publicly in front of the nation”, promises to adopt “constructive politics” and forgoes “politics of anarchy”.
The DG ISPR made the remarks in a lengthy press conference in Rawalpindi just two days before May 9 — a day that holds significant importance in the country’s political landscape as it was on this day last year when military installations came under attack following PTI founder Imran Khan’s arrest , which formed the basis of a severe state crackdown against him and his party.
In the question and answer session, Gen Sharif was asked if there was a possibility of any dialogue with the PTI, to which he replied: “If some political mindset, leader or clique attacks its own army, causes rifts between the army and its people, insults the nation’s martyrs and issues threats and hatches propaganda, then there can be no dialogue with them.
“There is only one way back for such political anarchists that it (PTI) asks for an earnest apology in front of the nation and promises that it will forego politics of hate and adopt constructive [style of] politics.
“In any case, such dialogue should take place between political parties. It is not appropriate for the army to be involved.”
Gen Sharif was asked about May 9 as well earlier in the session, to which he replied: “Firstly, May 9 is not just the Pakistan Army’s case but the entire country’s.
“We believe that to maintain trust in Pakistan’s justice system, the perpetrators of May 9 — both the perpetrators and those commanding them — must be sentenced according to the Constitution and the law.
“Nothing is hidden about May 9. The public, the army and we all have irrefutable evidence. All of us saw this incident unfolding, we all saw how everyone was [brainwashed] against the army, its leadership, agencies, and institutions, through lies and propaganda.”
The army official said that on May 9, “some political leaders” issued orders to their supporters to selectively target military installations.
“When this became public, another lie and [piece of] propaganda were created, [claiming] that this was a ‘false-flag operation’ and ‘we do not know what happened or who did it’.
“For such people, it is said: ’You can fool all the people some of the time, some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
“The question is: has this happened for the first time in the world? Incidents of a lesser degree have occurred in the past; so what do other countries do?
“In August 2011, London riots took place, and after that the criminal court system came into action. They even punished children under the age of 18.
“In the Capitol Hill riots […], there was no judicial commission. The people were identified and sentenced strictly . On June 27, 2023, the Paris riots happened and their judicial system immediately came into action.
“I have given the examples that our elite does not get tired of quoting. [The punishments were given] so that such an incident was not repeated, so that such cliques, with incitement and specific political and poisonous aims, do not get the chance to attack the state whenever they want.”
Regarding the PTI’s demand that a judicial commission be created to ascertain the facts of the May 9 riots, the DG ISPR said: “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 the goals of the 2014 dharna (sit-in) and [investigate] how the Parliament was attacked. It should also look into the PTV attack [to see] 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 International Monetary Fund and lobbying was conducted abroad so that Pakistan would not be given loans and fall into a state of default.”
The DG ISPR said that the judicial body, if formed, should probe the source and target of the funding of such campaigns as well as those who spread hate against state institutions on social media.
“If a specific political clique continues doing these things with impunity, then one day it will go against its own army,” he warned.
“When it continues to lie, and you don’t speak the truth in front of its lies, then there will be deceit and propaganda of every kind.” - Dawn
Courtesy Dawn
Back to Pakistanlink Home