Govt committed to protecting citizens’ fundamental rights: minister

ISLAMABAD(APP): Minister for Power Division Engineer Khurram Dastagir Khan on Tuesday said Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government was committed to protecting fundamental rights of all Pakistanis.

Briefing foreign media on the current political situation, he said those who attacked civilian installations on May 9 would be prosecuted under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Pakistan Penal Code while those who targeted military installations would be prosecuted under the Army Act 1952 which had a provision for doing so.

He said the events of 9-10 May were not a popular protest; they were not democratic dissent. Followers of Imran Khan staged a nationwide insurrection against a nuclear state, he said.

The minister said only a handful of PTI supporters took to the streets after Imran’s arrest. Contrary to the perception that tens of thousands came out, there was no outpouring of Pakistanis, he added.

He said democratic dissent was expressed peacefully through slogans, songs and protest placards not through violence, arson, and wanton destruction.

However, IK’s followers attacked, burned and destroyed defence installations, martyrs’ memorials and statues, communication infrastructure, broadcast infrastructure, schools, ambulances, police vehicles, and private cars and motorcycles, he said.

He said nine years ago, IK and his followers got away with attacks on Parliament House, Pakistan Television, PM House and with assault hundreds of Islamabad policemen. IK and his followers also got away with an armed attack on Islamabad in October 2016, he added.

The minister said PML-N’s 2013-18 elected government led by Nawaz Sharif gave the latitude to IK and his followers under the rubric of democratic dissent and protest. We would not repeat that mistake, he added.

He said democracies around the world react to riots and insurrections, he said.

Replying to a question, he said the government believed in freedom of expression and no journalist had been picked up or beaten since its inception in April 2022. Video evidence that existed would be used to identify the culprits, he said.