On 9 May 2023, nation witnessed tragic incidents of politically provoked violence and arson at multiple places, marking a dark chapter in the history of Pakistan. Building on a sustained narrative of hate and lies, politically orchestrated attacks were carried out on the installations of the Armed Forces including desecration of the monuments of Shuhada,” the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement on Saturday.
It added that such acts of violence “not only shocked the nation but also underscored the necessity of checking this unacceptable attempt of political terrorism” to impose perverted will through violence and coercion.
Sequel to the events of this ‘Black Day’, through meticulous investigations, “irrefutable pieces of evidence were collected to legally prosecute the accused involved in the May 9 tragedy,” the ISPR said and added that certain cases were referred for field general court martial as per law, where they underwent trials following due process.
On December 13, a seven-member constitutional bench of the SC directed that the cases pending due to an earlier order of the apex court be finalised and judgements in the cases of those accused found involved in these violent incidents be announced.
In light of the SC decision, the field general court martial has in the first phase promulgated the punishments to the following 25 accused; after examining all evidence, affording all legal rights to the accused and the completion of “due process”:
- Jan Muhammad Khan s/o Toor Khan, 10 years rigorous imprisonment, involved in the Jinnah House incident.
- Muhammad Imran Mehboob s/o Mehboob Ahmed, 10 years rigorous imprisonment, involved in the Jinnah House incident.
- Raja Muhammad Ehsan s/o Raja Muhammad Maqsood, 10 years rigorous imprisonment, involved in GHQ attack incident.
- Rehmat Ullah s/o Manjoor Khan, 10 years rigorous imprisonment, involved in the Punjab Regimental Centre Mardan incident.
- Anwar Khan s/o Muhammad Khan, 10 years rigorous imprisonment, involved in the PAF Base Mianwali incident.
- Muhammad Afaq Khan s/o M Ishfaq Khan, 9 years rigorous imprisonment, involved in the Bannu Cantt incident.
- Daud Khan s/o Ameer Zaib, 7 years rigorous imprisonment, involved in the Chakdara Fort incident.
- Faheem Haider s/o Farooq Haider, 6 years rigorous imprisonment, involved in the Jinnah House incident.
- Zahid Khan s/o Muhammad Khan, 4 years rigorous imprisonment, involved in the Multan Cantt Check Post incident.
- Yasir Nawaz s/o Ameer Nawaz Khan, 2 years rigorous imprisonment, involved in the Punjab Regimental Centre Mardan incident.
