• DG ISPR stresses accountability of May 9 facilitators, planners.
• Says the May 9 issue relates to whole nation, not just army.
• Urges need for implementation of 2014 National Action Plan.

RAWALPINDI: Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Thursday categorically refuted media reports claiming certain political comments made by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir in Brussels.

“The army chief made no political comments in Brussels and made no remark about the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI),” Lt Gen Chaudhry said while speaking to the media at an event.

Stressing that COAS Munir did not give any interview, the military spokesperson clarified that the Field Marshal also did not mention any “apology”.

His clarification comes in response to last week’s media reports, which claimed that the army chief had said that “political reconciliation was only possible via genuine apologies from all parties concerned”.

Reiterating the military’s stance on the May 9 riots — triggered after the arrest of PTI founding-chairman Imran Khan, which saw military and state installations being vandalised by mobs — the top army’s spokesperson said that those behind the incident and their facilitators and planners should be held accountable as per the law.

“May 9 [issue] is not just a matter of the army but that of the nation,” Lt Gen Chaudhry said, adding, “A person who commits an illegal act will have to face the law and the criminal charges.”

Army filling governance gaps with blood

Furthermore, expressing his views, the ISPR chief said that Pakistan is a country capable of changing the region’s fate, and that is why it comes under attack frequently.

“Youth should understand the legacy and history of their ideological state,” he said.

Reflecting on the recent armed conflict with India, he said that the neighbouring country thought that it would discredit the Pakistan Army via its attack, however, everything turned out to be different.

“When Pakistan and the Pakistani Army gave a strong response, India failed in all its plans, including proxies…. The world saw that Pakistan fought the enemy on every front,” he added.

On the issue of terrorism, Lt Gen Chaudhry stressed the need for the implementation of the 2014 National Action Plan for lasting peace.

“Only the first point of the National Action Plan is being fully implemented. The other 13 points are also necessary to fill the governance gap,” he said.

“The army, police and the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) are filling the governance gaps by [paying with] their blood on a daily basis,” he lamented.

“If we expel illegal Afghans involved in crimes, some political and criminal figures in our own country will start having problems,” the military spokesperson said on the issue of the expulsion of people living illegally in Pakistan.