Civilian and military leadership on Saturday delivered a message in categorical terms of taking a firm action against perpetrators, abettors and facilitators of May 9 mayhem. Setting a deadline of seventy-two hours, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a statement said that cases against miscreants would be heard before anti-terrorism courts. The caretaker Punjab government has separately constituted a joint investigation team to probe the torching of Corps Commander’s official residence, also known as Jinnah House. During a visit to Corps Headquarters in Peshawar, Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir, in his first reaction on the violent acts vowed to bring the vandals to justice and that armed forces will not tolerate any further attempt of violating the sanctity and security of its installations.
Law should indeed take its course against these saboteurs whose wicked and shameful acts brought only bad name to the country. In fact attacks on the military installations especially Jinnah House as well as setting ablaze ambulances were shocking for the whole nation. And the way armed forces demonstrated patience and restraint is appreciable, otherwise situation would have gone far worse. But now is the time that those who orchestrated and perpetrated these acts are dealt with an iron hand so that nobody in future could dare resort to such violence. This is an era of technology and by utilising Nadra’s data, security agencies can identify and nab all miscreants. It is also important that due process is followed and the nation is kept updated on the action taken against these elements. The arrested rioters must not go missing but cases be initiated against them in courts. Already the situation is very precarious and mishandling of this matter will only add fuel to the fire and allow vested interests to exploit it in their favour. Both federal and Punjab governments will have to demonstrate greater responsibility that without any excesses, the vandals are brought to justice. It is also for political leadership especially the PTI to stop dragging institutions such as the armed forces into politics. Hurling wild and baseless accusations against the armed forces amount to inadvertently forwarding the agenda of our enemies.
