Accused of plotting ‘another May 9’, PTI warns of ‘tit-for-tat’ – Pakistan

PESHAWAR: A day after stringent security measures thwarted the PTI’s plan to hold a protest in Rawalpindi, the coalition government and the opposition party on Sunday engaged in a bitter war of words, further sharpening their divisions.

Alluding to Saturday’s action against PTI marchers by the Punjab police, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur declared that only a “revolution” could now be a solution to the “state atrocities”.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, however, defended the government’s response to the PTI’s protest, saying Mr Gandapur had made his intention clear to create a May 9-like chaos by announcing his plans to march on Islamabad and Punjab by force.

CM Gandapur, who is also the provincial president of PTI, issued a video message in which he warned the law enforcement institutions that “those who fire one bullet on the PTI activists, will receive 10 bullets in response.”

“Today, I formally announce revolution as we have no other solution,” he said in the message addressed to the state institutions and federal government. “Enough is enough,” he said, adding that they had shown restraint after the sanctity of their homes.

The chief minister released the message after a procession led by him was not allowed to participate in the PTI rally in Rawalpindi on Saturday.

The Punjab police fired countless numbers of tear gas shells and bullets when the PTI workers entered Punjab through the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway, the CM claimed, adding that two PTI workers received bullets wounds while 50 others suffered injuries due to tear gas shelling.

“In future, (if) someone fires bullets on us, in retaliation they will also receive bullets. If you fire one bullet, then we will fire 10 bullets in response,” he warned.

Similarly, he added, they will also give response in the same manner if you fired teargas and used batons on the PTI workers.

“People of KP listen; all the tribal people of erstwhile Fata are supporters of PTI. Go and hold jirgas in the tribal regions and get united,” he said. He said his message was not a threat, rather it’s a warning for them to reform.

The CM also called for political decisions to be made by politicians and nobody else.

Tarar condemns remarks

Mr Tarar, while commenting on Mr Gandapur’s warning, said the chief minister had made his intention clear to create a May 9-like chaos in the country by announcing his plans to march on Islamabad and Punjab by force.

In a statement, the minister condemned the CM’s remarks about use of force, calling it an admission of his own failure to govern the province effectively.

“The chief minister’s threat of firing bullets for a bloodshed is a clear manifestation that he is incapable of running the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. His threats to march on Islamabad and Punjab with force are nothing but an attempt to repeat the May 9.”

Criticizing the CM’s transition from verbal abuse to hurling threats of violence, Mr Tarar warned that this approach would only harm him, not anyone else.

“There is nothing democratic, political, or parliamentary about the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf provincial government’s statements, actions, or conduct,” he added.

The information minister lamented that the provincial leadership of PTI had never focused on competing with the Center and Punjab in areas such as education, healthcare, employment, or economic improvement.

He emphasized that if PTI wanted to bring about revolution, it should focus on transforming these sectors for the betterment of people.

“Corruption and incompetence have reached their peak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The real competition should have been in providing relief to electricity consumers, as the PML-N-led governments has done in Islamabad and Punjab,” he said, adding that it should have been about building hospitals and educational institutions to serve the masses.

Mr Tarar accused the PTI of trying to disrupt the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in a similar fashion it had attempted to sabotage President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan with his sit-in in Islamabad in 2014.

He said economic stabilization had disturbed the PTI, which had brought Pakistan to the brink of default. The substantive drop in inflation from 32 per cent to 9.6pc had literally irked them, he added.

He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s firm stance in support of Palestinians and against Israel at the United Nations General Assembly had caused a real inconvenience to the Israeli agents in Pakistan.

With input from APP

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2024