Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Tuesday said those who had burnt the house and pictures of Quaid-i-Azam Ali Jinnah on May 9 could neither be regarded as responsible citizens nor patriots.
“A rioter, Fitna, and mastermind spearheaded the armed groups vandalizing the Jinnah House from his home ,” the minister said while talking to the media during her visit to the Jinnah House.
She regretted that not only the house of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was burnt by the armed groups on the directives of the PTI chairman but his invaluable and historic pictures and portraits displayed in the corridor were also set on fire.
A mosque on the premises of the Jinnah House was also burnt in the regrettable incident, she added.
The minister said on May 9, schools, ambulances, memorials of martyrs, the iconic fighter jet of M M Alam, and the statue of martyred Captain Sher Khan were put on fire and vandalized by the unruly mobs, she recalled, rejecting the notion that vandalism was part of a political protest.
No patriot could even think of such heinous acts which were unacceptable and unforgivable, she remarked.
The minister reaffirmed that those who were involved in the violent incidents of May 9 would be brought to justice at all costs, as the people of Pakistan would never forget the painful day.
Marriyum said the whole nation and the patriotic political parties were united and unanimous that the planners, including the mastermind, and attackers of May 9 tragedy should be punished.
She said the architect of May 9 tragedy was still misleading the nation with his conflicting statements. Sometimes he said his workers were responsible for the tragedy and sometimes he blamed the media squarely for all the mayhem on that day.
The person, who had hatched the conspiracy while sitting at his residence in Zaman Park, continued to churn out lies about human rights conditions in the country, she added.
The abettors of the crime would also be taken to the task, she said, calling for a thorough investigation about the PTI chief’s role in the May 9 tragedy.
“What was the fault of the school going children? Why their vans were set on fire?” the minister questioned.
She said exemplary punishments should be given to the perpetrators, masterminds and executioners of the May 9 tragedy.
To a query, Marriyum said there was no politics involved in the incidents of May 9. The culprits would be tried under the relevant laws.
“Our position is clear that innocent people will not be punished, as the persons involved in the May 9 rioting have been identified through geo-fencing.”
The minister condemned another conspiracy of the PTI leaders, who tried to tarnish the country’s image by alleging rape and torture of their women members in police custody. The women themselves told the media that there was no reality in such allegations.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, she said, had also rejected the allegations and categorically stated that no woman was raped in police custody or jail.
To another query, she said the PTI received funding from their foreign masters to mislead the youth for harming the national interests.
She alleged that the PTI chairman had brainwashed the youth to fulfill his nefarious designs.
Marriyum reiterated that the perpetrators of the May 9 tragedy would definitely be punished. The three-time elected prime minister (Nawaz Sharif) had set an example that no one was above law and face trial in fake cases.
There would be no negotiations with those who had disrespected and burnt the memorials of martyrs and they would be punished, the minister maintained.
