Islamabad, Pakistan: The Gujranwala Anti-Terrorist Court headed by Judge Natasha Nadeem has sentenced 51 accused of May 9 incidents to five years of rigorous imprisonment.
These 51 accused were alleged to have vandalized outside Gujranwala Cantt on May 9 – all these 51 accused were PTI workers. This verdict confirms that PTI central leadership, that is in various jails or absconding, will also be sentenced in the second phase. Those who have not yet been decided will also be sentenced soon.
Crime cannot be controlled without punishment and this correlation of both ensures justice and the enforcement of law in any society. It took over 10 months to award punishments to the culprits of May 9 and many of the culprits have already won General Elections 2024 and have become part of Pakistan’s parliament.
On January 5, 2024, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, while hearing the lifetime disqualification case observed that “those who made the country hostage are again contesting the election”. They did not only contest the election rather many of them won the election for provincial as well as for National Assembly seats and now some of the absconders are contesting the Senate Election. All this happened due to a lack of interest of the interim government that did not properly follow the cases while PDM government during its 19-month tenure kept watching the situation and preferred to opt “wait and see” policy.
Related Story: Is the nation forgetting the May 9 mutiny?
The observations of Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa were an excellent explanation of what the country is facing today. The time has testified that those who were allegedly involved and were seen and heard in videos while directing PTI followers to attack military installations are now members of National as well as provincial assemblies even those who were absconders since May 9, 2023, like Zartaj Gull, appeared before the court in Peshawar and got the approval to contest the election and thereafter won her seat.
Related Story: Those who have taken the entire Pakistan hostage are contesting elections again
Is it not true that the state of Pakistan has compromised over what happened on May 9, 2023 mutiny day?
Although 10 months have passed, only 51 accused who were involved in the May 9, 2023 mutiny have been punished so far because the fate of May 9 related cases is hanging between the debate of whether their trial should be in civilian courts or military courts. Do we remember that culprits involved in the Capitol Hill attack that was far lesser than the May 9, 2023 mutiny in nature but they got punishments instantly spreading from 18 years in imprisonment to 10 years in jail? The US example confirms that nations cannot live long unless they believe in a crime and punishment relationship.
