“I believe that whoever planned this are certainly guilty of terrorism,” PM says

Shujaat Hamza/DNA

ISLAMABAD, MAY 16: The National Security Committee (NSC) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday expressed solidarity with the armed forces and vowed to take strict action against those involved in the May 9 violent protests.

Terming May 9 “the blackest day in the country’s history”, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said all the miscreants involved in the arson and rioting would be brought to justice and given exemplary punishment.

Chairing the meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), the prime minister directed to give strict punishment to the culprits to prevent recurrence of such violent incidents in future.

Millions of Pakistanis, he said, were upset on what happened on May 9 and they were demanding to hold all planners and instigators of the attack on security installations and historic buildings like the Jinnah House in Lahore, accountable.

The NSC meeting expressed solidarity with the Pakistan armed forces, strongly condemned the violent incidents and vowed to bring all culprits to justice without victimizing the innocent people.

The prime minister said in the last meeting, he had directed the authorities concerned to register first information reports against the culprits involved in the incidents and arrest them within 72 hours.

He said the people of Pakistan were upset and furious over what happened in the country on the said date as the incidents also brought disgrace to the nation.

PM Shehbaz said the Jinnah House that was burnt and destroyed by the miscreants was the abode of the valour troops who were busy in safeguarding the nation from its enemy.

“When I visited the house after the incidents, the scenes were beyond imagination as it was totally burnt and destroyed,” he added.

Shehbaz Sharif said the miscreants had inflicted damage to the country which its arch enemy could not do even during the last 75 years. Such heart breaking events had never been witnessed in the country’s history, he added.

He said the 220 million people of Pakistan and the government were united to condemn such incidents in the strongest terms and stood behind the armed forces.

He vowed that the criminals, who burnt and tarnished government properties, damaged the relics of the Pakistan armed forces and marched on the office of ISI in Faisalabad would not be spared.

“I have asked the relevant authorities that even if the prime minister asks them to spare them, they must not obey him and act according to the law,” he added.=DNA

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