PM Kakar stresses need to hold ‘masterminds’ of May 9 riots accountable

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister (PM) Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Sunday stressed the need to hold accountable the ‘masterminds’ of the May 9 riots, wherein military installations were attacked following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan, ARY News reported.

Speaking at a private news channel programme, the interim prime minister noted that the incidents of May 9 were still being investigated and action should be taken against those involved in them.

However, PM Kakar said the entire Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) should not be punished for the incident. “The government did not intend to treat the entire PTI as an enemy,” he said.

Referring to the investigation, he said that those who perpetrated the incidents on May 9 were facing the judicial process.

“Many persons were still avoiding the courts and were in hiding”, he regretted adding they should have surrendered before the law to avail their legal rights. Still, now they would face obstacles in carrying out their political activities related to the elections.

He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would ensure that nobody should get the impression that any person was made a target for his political affiliation.

PM Kakar noted that the investigations of different institutions in this regard were underway, adding that the probe would be shared with the nation via the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) once it was completed.

When asked if he believes that the PTI founder Imran Khan was personally involved in the May 9 events, the interim PM said: “I don’t have any information yet to form an opinion on this.”

Read More: Govt forms committee to probe May 9 violence

The prime minister said the people of Pakistan would elect their representatives on February 8 and his government would carry out a peaceful transfer of power to them. “By the morning of February 9, it would be known whom the people had elected”, he observed.

He said the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) failed to resolve problems of governance during its tenure as it lacked political maturity and got involved in confrontation with the institutions.

Talking about the issues of Balochistan, he said once militants realized that they would have to lay down their arms, the problems would be settled.

PM Kakar was of the view that the sanctity of the state should be observed as it was above any individual.

He said Pakistan lost 90,000 of its citizens in the war against terrorism but not even nine persons were convicted in courts for the deaths.

The issue of terrorism could not be addressed, he said adding that horrific incident like an attack on the Army Public School occurred and personnel of law enforcement agencies, citizens and politicians had been martyred since 2008.

“The criminal justice system is not working and it is a fact,” he said adding reforms in the system could not be made by the last three parliaments.

He said democracy would move forward gradually and would bring its fruits to the people as happened in Europe.

PM Kakar further said that he believed in pure democracy but the democratic government should improve governance and perform to gain moral strength from the people of Pakistan.

The military institutions were supporting the government in disaster management, economic issues, database management, education, health and space technology, he noted.