In defiance of the image fostered by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Friday that “only six” of the roughly 500 cases lodged following the vandalism on May 9 are being processed to be prosecuted under the Army Act.
While addressing a press conference, the minister tried to clear the air on the government’s crackdown against the PTI workers responsible for the mayhem on May 9, saying the remaining cases would be tried by ordinary courts.
“Numerous theories and plots have been circulating. So I decided it would be best to show up here and provide the facts,” Sanaullah said.
The interior department revealed specifics regarding the legal actions taken thus far against the vandals who had attacked government and military facilities, noting that 499 First Information Reports (FIRs) had been filed in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a result of the violent protests that erupted across the country.
Of them, 88 were filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), while 411 were recorded for other offenses.
Sanaullah said that 1099 individuals were detained by KP officials, while 2588 were brought into custody from Punjab, and that 3944 suspects had been detained in the two provinces.
He added that another 5536 arrests were made, although 80 percent of those people have been freed on bail.
Additionally, he explicitly disputed the reports that all cases will be prosecuted in military courts in an effort to clarify the air about the matter and clarified that just six of the 499 cases are now being processed for a military court trial.
He said that in Punjab and KP, just 19 accused have been sent to military courts. These actions are being done only here, he stressed.
