Islamabad, Pakistan: All is said and done politically and now new governments are in place to move on and it is expected that the country will get out of the chaos that was engineered after PTI was voted out from the National Assembly in April 2022.
However, after the results of the elections of February 8, 2024, an attempt is being made by the PTI to create a traditional self-made narrative and give the impression that now the characters of the events of May 9 are going to get some relief sooner or later. The stories are going to become anecdotal, but a clear stand has come out in the Corps Commanders Conference on March 5, 2024. The declaration of the Corps Commanders Conference clearly stated that;
“May 9 planners, instigators, instigators and desecration of martyrs’ memorials and attacks on military installations will certainly be brought to justice under the relevant provisions of the law and constitution.”
After hearing a loud and stated position over the May 9 incidents from military leadership, an outlandish narrative is being pitched by a political cadre demanding the formation of a Judicial Commission to investigate the May 9 incidents. Weirdly, political parties that had been part of the PDM government under whose tenure the May 9 incident took place are also voicing the formation of the Judicial Commission over the May 9 incidents. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Parliamentarians and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) had the government and they could set up the Judicial Commission instantly after May 9 took place.
The formation of a Judicial Commission would frustrate the legal process against the culprits of the May 9 incidents
However, both the parties practically avoided taking action against the culprits of the May 9 incident and the Army whose installations were attacked had to play a proactive role against the culprits and it was decided that the culprits of May 9 would be tried in military courts. Now after almost a year passed, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had demanded to hold a Judicial inquiry into the May 9 incidents. Bilawal appealed to the prime minister to approach Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa to head the Judicial Commission on May 9 so that the perpetrators are punished and the innocents are released. Meanwhile, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday added his voice to the chorus demanding a Judicial inquiry into the May 9 incidents, and in a post on X, he said that along with the probe into the events last year, the Commission should also inquire into several other incidents including the 2014 dharna, attacks on PTV and the Parliament House, and attacks on police outside Zaman Park.
Ahsan Iqbal and Bilawal Bhutto both did not tell the nation why did they not establish a Judicial Commission when they had the PDM government in place and May 9 happened just under their noses. After a lapse of one year, the demand of the Judicial Commission coming from PDM parties is not only odd one rather creates room for speculations that this demand would certainly support those who want to divert the attention from the incidents of attacks on national security institutions and martyrs’ memorials for creating doubts about who engineered these events and who was behind them? Another possible attempt behind this move is to create confusion among the masses and strangely the ridiculous demand of setting up a Judicial Commission to investigate the May 9 incidents is now also coming from several politicians irrespective of their political divide. This ridiculous demand of the Judicial Commission regarding May 9 is also linked to the reality that all the cases in this regard are being heard in the courts and the establishment of the Judicial Commission on this occasion means that the entire process should be restarted from scratch and it also make the hearings of the cases controversial but would certainly provide relief to culprits by delaying the matters.
Regarding May 9, the cases are being heard in the military courts and the hearings of all these cases have been conducted in the military courts according to the law and even the Supreme Court of Pakistan has allowed such hearings.
The history of Pakistan testifies that if any sensitive issue has to be put on hold, a Judicial Commission should be set up for it. The best excuse is, that when the cases are being heard in the courts, witnesses, challan, and other legal essentials are being completed, then what is the purpose of stopping the matter at this stage and demanding a Judicial Commission?
Moreover, the demand to form a Judicial Commission after a lapse of a long period is also absurd in the sense that the leaders and lawyers of PTI have been appearing in the courts regarding May 9 cases since the year 2023 and have been issuing media statements over the case and Supreme Court has allowed the State of Pakistan to try culprits in Military Courts. It is already understood that the decisions are correct only if they are per the desires of PTI and leveling accusations and slander is the most lethal tool this party always uses against its opponents.
Since PTI is losing a legal battle, demands like setting up a Judicial Commission are just political panache but why PPP and PMLN are joining this band is an important proposition to review deeply. A closer look over the demand of the Judicial Commission to investigate the May 9 incidents directs to many conspiracy theories but such an approach should be avoided for the better future of the country.
However, statements of former PDM leaders surely indicate that speculations of several political circles were not unfounded that the PDM government was not proactive in taking action against the culprits of the May 9 incidents because some politicians of the PDM were of the view that “let the military deal with PTI and watches the situation as a bystander”.
