Military yet to disclose names of May 9 mastermind, planners

• Imran Khan “actively contributed” to May 9 riot: interim govt’s report.
• It also named dozens of PTI leaders for their alleged role in attacks.
• Khan has demanded judicial commission to probe last year’s riots.

ISLAMABAD: The military authorities have not yet made public the names of the mastermind and planners of the May 9, 2023, attacks.

Announcing 25 convictions of military courts, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) last week said justice would truly be fully served once the mastermind and planners of the “May 9 tragedy are punished as per the Constitution and laws of the land”.

Since the May 9 attacks, the issue has been discussed at different military forums but in the ISPR press releases or press conferences, the names of the mastermind and planners were never announced.

However, different federal ministers and political leaders have been accusing Imran Khan of being the mastermind.

The caretaker government had for named a five-member committee tasked with identifying the “role of mastermind, planners, facilitators and executors” of May 9 incidents that saw countrywide violence following the arrest of former premier Imran Khan.

The caretaker government’s report on May 9, which was presented before the Shehbaz Sharif cabinet, had accused that Khan had “actively contributed” to the planning of these violent attacks on the military installations. 

The report claimed: “Evidence shown to the Committee suggests several party leaders were involved in this planning”. It further suggests that Khan actively contributed to it.

The same report talked about 34 individuals, who had masterminded the strategy of violent street power. It accused 52 individuals as planners and 185 persons as executors of the plan. 

Although the report had identified dozens of PTI leaders for their alleged role in the May 9 attacks, it was not specifically mentioned who were the alleged masterminds, who were the planners and who were executors of the plan.

However, in the case of Khan, it was said that he had “actively contributed” to the planning. The report said: “Investigations conducted so far suggest that there were 34 individuals who masterminded the strategy of violent street power, actively contributed to planning the violence and mayhem. Additionally, 52 individuals contributed to detailed planning and 185 individuals executed this plan.”

The report added: “The pattern of violence on May 9, 2023, suggests that these people were following a carefully crafted strategy in attacking specific targets, including military installations. An examination of call logs shows that these calls were made by certain PTI leaders to the rioters attacking the Jinnah House. 

A day earlier, the same PTI leaders made multiple calls to the same rioters on May 8, 2023, establishing very close coordination between the PTI leaders and rioters. Many of the culprits who were subsequently arrested, confessed during interrogation to have received instructions from the party leaders to cause violence and mayhem and attack specific targets such as the residence of Corps Commander, Lahore”.

Khan, however, termed May 9 a false flag operation. He also demanded the setting up of a judicial commission to probe the May 9 attacks.

Originally published in The News