Islamabad (November 08, 2018): Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi on Thursday said that state will take strict action against the unruly elements, who challenge its writ and breach the law.
Addressing the Senate session, Afridi informed the House that the government is carrying out thorough investigation into the incidents of vandalism during the recent protest demonstrations against the Supreme Court verdict in Asia Bibi case.
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He reiterated his promise to the nation that those who broke the law during countrywide protests against the Supreme Court’s acquittal of Asia Bibi will not go unpunished.
He said data has been gathered on the basis of the footage of damaging properties and the elements involved in the incidents are being arrested.
The minister told the government successfully held negotiations with the protesters and peacefully resolved the matter.
There was a consensus among all the stakeholders, including the opposition, that force should not be used against the protesters, he added.
Shehryar Afridi said the government will implement the Supreme Court’s any order in a review petition in the case.
Lashing out at opponents who criticised the government for its deal with the rioters, Afridi said the state will never use force against its own citizens.
“There will be no bullets, no sticks used against fellow Pakistanis in ‘Naya Pakistan’. [The state] cannot even imagine use of force against its own citizens,” said the minister.
“[But we] will make an example out of those who broke the law. We will take action against those who challenged the writ of the state. I promise the nation, those who took the law into their own hands will not be forgiven,” he said.
Afridi said governments who failed to maintain peace were not respected. He added that people belonging to some political parties had been involved in harassing citizens and damaging public and private property during the protests.
The minister shared that the TLP disowned the rioters, when the government sat with the party and showed its leaders video clips of those who resorted to violence.
“It is every Pakistani’s right to file a review petition,” Afridi said, referring to one of the terms laid out on the agreement signed with the demonstrators under which, the government will initiate legal proceedings to put Asia Bibi on the Exit Control List and will not object to a review appeal against the verdict, which was filed earlier in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the participants also discussed the agenda items including loans from foreign countries, increase in the prices of electricity and gas and the country’s foreign policy in the context of Yemen issue.
The protests, spearheaded by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), paralysed the country for three days before the government reached a deal with the demonstrators, ending the protests.
Criminal proceedings against the agitators were initiated by the government earlier this week as police booked hundreds of people from across the country for vandalising property and inciting violence during the protests.
Earlier today, an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad approved a 14-day judicial remand of 10 suspects and ordered that they be sent to Adiala Jail. The court directed the suspects to appear before it again, on November 22.
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