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Pakistan minister Sanaullah said Imran Khan should be tried in military courts because he incited his party’s cadres to launch an attack on army installations. (Image: Reuters)
Sanaullah said Imran Khan and his close associates planned earlier the course of action for party workers in case he was arrested.
Pakistan’s interior minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday said former prime minister Imran Khan will be tried in a military court for the May 9 riots. Cadres from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) retaliated with attacks on army installations and government and public properties after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Imran Khan earlier this month.
At least eight people died, 290 wounded and 1,900 protesters were arrested as they clashed with pro-government protesters and police. The PTI cadres stormed the home of a corps commander in Lahore — also called Jinnah House — and tore down a gate of General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Sanaullah told Dawn News that Imran Khan personally carried out the planning of the attacks on the army installations a day before his arrest. He then said Khan should be tried in military court.
“Absolutely, why shouldn’t he? The programme that he made to target the military installations and then had it executed, in my understanding absolutely, is a case of a military court,” Sanaullah was quoted as saying.
“The PTI supporters chanted a slogan that ‘Imran Khan is our red line’, and the planning and preparation were done on Imran Khan’s initiative and instigation. He carried it all out. He is the architect of all this discord,” he further added while appearing on Dawn News’ television news programme.
Sanaullah then alleged that all planning by Imran Khan and PTI were done before he was taken in NAB custody. He said the evidence lies in tweets and messages sent by Imran Khan.
PTI leader Omar Ayub doubted Rana Sanaullah’s ‘cognitive abilities’ and said Sanaullah has become “unhinged” in a tweet.
“From holding midnight dubious press conferences to making statements about trying PTI Chairman Imran Khan in a military court, it just proves that he has finally become unhinged and is unfit to perform duties as a minister,” he tweeted.
The Punjab Police earlier this week claimed that Imran and his close aides planned and coordinated efforts to storm the residence of the Lahore corps commander and other buildings while citing a geo-fencing report.
They said over 400 calls were made by the PTI chairman and other senior leaders to allegedly incite party workers to move towards the Pakistan army officer’s residence in Lahore Cantt, and other sensitive public buildings.
Their report said the rioters were in contact with PTI top brass who were passing orders from Zaman Park.
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