May 9: one year on

Despite a year having passed since the riots on May 9, 2023, justice has yet to be delivered. While a handful of protesters have been punished and thousands jailed, the slow pace of prosecution has gotten fair criticism from all quarters. Among the major injustices of the past year has been the way hundreds of apparently peaceful protesters have been clubbed in with violent protesters and kept behind bars for several months. Similarly, failure to bring charges quickly and overcharging several suspects with terror charges has caused unnecessary suffering and provided fuel for anti-state narratives. Technology should have given us swift justice and helped us grow past the black day. Instead, the demands for independent inquiries become more credible every day — justice has already been delayed enough. At the same time, the PTI’s comical attempts to deflect responsibility have done the party no favours. No party leader of any influence has offered up anything more than watered down condemnations of the violence, riddled with caveats trying to paint the events as a false flag. Never mind that party leaders are on record making thinly veiled threats of violent uprisings. Everyone knows the protesters were PTI leaders, workers and supporters. Even if the party is to be believed and the instigators in the crowd were bad actors pretending to be PTI supporters, it does not exonerate PTI’s own leaders and workers who were riling up the crowd. While some political parties may still be willing to play ball with PTI and vice versa, these working relationships are situational. If the party really hopes to mature into a party known for its governance, and not protest and resignation, they need to admit their own failings and work with others to fix the system for everyone, regardless of who is in power. Whether or not we need a May 9 judicial commission, as the PTI demands, or an open investigation into the party’s rise to power, as others have suggested, transparency around the events that brought us to where we stand today can only benefit the country. Published in The Express Tribune, May 9th, 2024. Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.  

if you want to get more information about this news then click on below link

More Detail