Amid continues violent clashes across Pakistan against the arrest of country’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and other PTI leaders, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday said that May 9 — the day when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was arrested from the Islamabad High Court — was “another Black Day” in the history the country.
“The history of Pakistan several days are marked as the “Black Days” and now May 9 has been added to the list,” Geo News reported quoting the Bilawal while speaking at a press conference. He was flanked by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and provincial Information Minister Sharjeel Memon.
Violent protests erupted in Pakistan on Tuesday with dozens injured across several cities and demonstrators attacking military buildings after Khan was arrested.
Tensions remained high with paramilitary troops and police on the streets in major cities even today; meanwhile, mobile data services remained suspended and schools and offices were closed in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Islamabad police said earlier today that troops have reached the capital city, the report said.
Protesters have stormed military buildings, ransacked the residence of a top army general in Lahore, and set ablaze state buildings and assets in other places since Khan’s arrest in Al-Qadir Trust case.
“We [Pakistan Peoples’ Party – PPP] never celebrate when a political leader is arrested because we believe that when political leaders are arrested it is the loss of the politics at large,” the report quoted Bilawal as saying, reiterating that in such scenarios the PPP has never celebrated nor distributed sweets.
He added that his party had always been “against” the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from the get-go; whereas PTI had always defended the anti-graft body and benefitted from it.
“Khan sb initiated a campaign to save NAB; when we demanded amendments he said that we are seeking NRO and didn’t agree on the proposed amendments,” he said, adding that now when the new laws were introduced it is the PTI chief who has become its beneficiary.
