Almost 3800 miscreants attacked Jinnah House Lahore & burnt it: Mohsin Naqvi
LAHORE, May 14 (SABAH): Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi says miscreants burnt 23 buildings and 108vehicles across the province.
Addressing a news conference in Lahore on Sunday, Mohsin Naqvi said that miscreants attacked government and Army properties under proper planning. He informed that almost 3800 miscreants attacked Jinnah House Lahore and burnt it. He said that 400 miscreant were inside the Jinnah House while 3400 were outside during the attack. He said that miscreants also damaged and destroyed the cameras of Safe Cities Project.
Mohsin Naqvi informed that miscreants inflicted loss of 6000 million rupees on May 9 only. He said that miscreants involved in Mianwali base attack were armed and they wanted to burn the aircrafts in the base.
Mohsin Naqvi warned that if any protester enters a government building, the police will take strict action against them. He recalled that previously, he had directed policemen to not fire at any PTI supporter, despite receiving “complaints from policemen that they were being sent to be pelted with stones”.
However, Mohsin Naqvi warned that following the incidents of the past few days, the policy is clear now that the police will “act according to the powers vested to them by the law if anyone entered any government building”.
He also asserted that there was an “amazing public response” to the newspaper advertisement asking people to help identify the miscreants. Naqvi guaranteed that if anyone was arrested wrongfully, they will be released.
Mohsin Naqvi termed former US envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad’s statements regarding the recent political tensions in Pakistan as “interference in not only Pakistan’s matters but in our army’s matters”.
Responding to a reporter’s query in Lahore, Naqvi called on the federal government to take “serious notice” of his statements while also alerting the public to not pay heed to Khalildad’s statements. “I do not think his value is more than a chaprasi’s (peon’s),” Naqvi said.
He added Khalildad has “no relation with the US government” and was simply an envoy during former US president Donald Trump’s tenure.
Mohsin Naqvi accused PTI leader Dr. Yasmin Rashid of being a “central character” in the series of violent protests that followed PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9.
Saying he wanted women’s respect to be maintained, he told the media that Yasmin Rashid was “taken to the hospital when she felt a bit unwell so that no such thing happens where someone is victimised”. “Yasmin Rashid is a central character in this entire incident,” Naqvi added.
He also expressed his hope that the judiciary would treat such cases fairly as the matter was “as important to them as it is for us” and they were equally concerned about the “terror incidents”.
Mohsin Naqvi said that authorities have pictures of all those who attacked important buildings in the province during the violent protests.
He said the police are “following each and every person” and have a “clear policy” that they would not catch any innocent people, but the true culprits behind the vandalism will be caught, no matter how long it takes or how much “pressure” there is. He added that the government is solely focusing on the said matter as “it is nothing ordinary but an attack on Pakistan”.
Mohsin Naqvi said that staging protests is the right of every political party but “when those political workers reach Cantt, they convert into terrorists”. “The worker of a political party cannot attack Jinnah House (Lahore Corps Commander House), a terrorist has done it,” he said, adding that around 400 people had gone inside the building while 3,400 were outside. “No matter what happens, we will not sit idle until each and every person involved in this is arrested.” He said that there was “no doubt” that these protests were “pre-planned”.
Mohsin Naqvi revealed details of the property damaged in the province during the violent protests in the aftermath of PTI chief Imran Khan’s arrest. He said that 108 cars, including police vehicles, were set on fire in the province. He said that 23 buildings, including the Lahore Corps Commander House and banks, were damaged.
He said that in Lahore, two police Vigo trucks, six Hilux, 12 buses, one jail van, four bikes and two single cabin vehicles were burnt. Similarly, six vehicles belonging to the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and eight Rescue 1122 ambulances were set on fire. He said that the Audi showroom in Lahore was attacked, in which one car was completely burnt while the rest were damaged.