ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said on Sunday that the May 9 attacks involving supporters of ex-PM Imran Khan were an “attempt toward mutiny or civil war,” adding that its target was Pakistan’s serving army chief and his team.
Violent protests broke out in many parts of the country on May 9 after Khan was briefly arrested on graft allegations. Enraged Khan supporters attacked government buildings and military installations, including the official residence of a serving senior army official as they blamed the army for Khan’s arrest.
After initially claiming the attack was in response to his detention, Khan claimed his supporters had largely remained peaceful and the violence was pre-planned and perpetuated by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies in their bid to clamp down on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
“According to my assessment, this was indeed an attempt toward mutiny or civil war,” Kakar said during his first exclusive interview with a private news channel.
“I think its target as a nucleus was the serving army chief and the team around him. All of them.”
Dozens of top and mid-tier leaders in the PTI have been arrested alongside hundreds of Khan supporters since May 9. Many quit the party after being released while other leaders remain on the run to avoid arrest. Khan— behind bars on corruption allegations— himself faces a slew of cases, including one for leaking state secrets, which carries the death sentence.
When asked why the government had not arrested others involved in the May 9 attacks nor ensured progress regarding the cases of those already imprisoned, Kakar said the caretaker government did not want to come across as one focused on exacting revenge.
“The due process of law will take place,” he said.
On the issue of general elections in Pakistan, the prime minister said it was the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) prerogative to announce the date for polls.
“The law of the land says that the Election Commission of Pakistan has to decide [the date],” he said.
Kakar, however, said that if the matter goes to the superior judiciary, then its decision would be “binding” on the government.