Army chief never sought apology; May 9 culprits must face law: DG ISPR

Monitoring Desk

RAWALPINDI: Military spokesperson Lieutenant-General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry clarified on Thursday that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir did not seek an apology from anyone over the May 9, 2023 riots, saying the perpetrators should be “held accountable”.

The remarks come days after it was reported that the army chief had sought an apology over the 2023 countrywide protests — apparently from the PTI, which the state holds responsible for the May 9 riots.

Suhail Warraich, a senior editor for the Daily Jang newspaper, wrote in a column on August 16 that COAS Munir had spoken to him in person recently in Belgium’s capital of Brussels, where the army chief had stopped over on his return from his visit to the United States.

“On a question about politics, he (the army chief) said that political reconciliation is possible only if there is a sincere apology,” the column read, without specifying who the army chief was referring to or who the question was about.

“Neither did the army chief make any political statement in Brussels, nor did he mention any apology,” a private TV channel quoted Lt-Gen Chaudhry as saying on Thursday.

Lt-Gen Chaudhry, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general, was speaking to reporters after an event in Islamabad.

The DG ISPR was further reported as saying that the army chief “did not say anything about the PTI”.

Lt-Gen Chaudhry asserted: “May 9 is not only the military’s case but the nation’s case. It is clear that those who carried out the May 9 [riots], their enablers and planners should be held accountable as per the law.”

“There were hundreds of people present at the Brussels event. Those attending the event had their pictures taken with the field marshal,” the DG ISPR noted.

He also termed Pakistan a “country that changes the region’s destinies”, according to the report. “This is the reason why it is frequently attacked. The youth should understand the legacy and history of their ideological state,” he said.