LAHORE , May 17, 2023: The caretaker Punjab government on Wednesday gave a 24-hour deadline to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to hand over “30 to 40 terrorists” who, it claimed, were hiding at Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore to police.
The warning came from caretaker Information Minister Aamir Mir who addressed a presser in the provincial capital. The minister said the PTI had started behaving like a non-state actor as its chief had been targeting the military for more than one year.
He claimed that attacks on military installations and at other places were carried out during May 9 violent protests under a plan, saying the government had adopted a “zero tolerance policy” towards it.
Mr Mir told reporters that interim Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi had given a “free hand” to the Punjab police to deal with “arsonists”.
The interim minister said it had been decided that those who attacked military installations would be tried in military courts. He said no innocent person would be penalised as all cases were being forwarded after confirmation. He said the “PTI miscreants” crossed the red line on May 9. He said more than 3,400 attackers had been arrested and 254 cases registered.
Out of those, he said, 795 attackers had been identified and 78 had been physically remanded. He said 906 miscreants had been judicially remanded while the arrest of other miscreants was under way.
He also said the caretaker CM had barred the Punjab police from using force and weapons to avoid bloodshed.
Mir told a questioner that the attack on Jinnah House could have been easily prevented, but the caretaker chief minister had stopped the police from using weapons. “We wanted to avoid bloodshed in the province.”
He claimed that several arsonists were in touch with people inside Zaman Park during the attack on the Corps Commander House.