INP
\nISLAMABAD
\nMinister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi on Thursday reiterated his promise to the nation that those who broke the law during countrywide protests against the Supreme Court\u2019s acquittal of Asia Bibi will not go unpunished.
\nIn a charged speech on the floor of the Senate, Afridi vowed to make an example out of those who resorted to violence during the three-day long protests, which broke out after the apex court last week set free Bibi \u2013 a Christian woman who had been on death row for eight years in a blasphemy case.
\nThe protests, spearheaded by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), paralysed the country for three days before the government reached a deal with the demonstrators, ending the protests.
\nLashing out at opponents who criticised the government for its deal with the rioters, Afridi said the state will never use force against its own citizens.
\n\u201cThere will be no bullets, no sticks used against fellow Pakistanis in \u2018Naya Pakistan\u2019. [The state] cannot even imagine use of force against its own citizens,\u201d said the minister.
\n\u201c[But we] will make an example out of those who broke the law. We will take action against those who challenged the writ of the state. I promise the nation, those who took the law into their own hands will not be forgiven,\u201d he said.
\nAfridi said governments who failed to maintain peace were not respected. He added that people belonging to some political parties had been involved in harassing citizens and damaging public and private property during the protests.
\nThe minister shared that the TLP disowned the rioters, when the government sat with the party and showed its leaders video clips of those who resorted to violence.
\n\u201cIt is every Pakistani\u2019s right to file a review petition,\u201d Afridi said, referring to one of the terms laid out on the agreement signed with the demonstrators under which, the government will initiate legal proceedings to put Asia Bibi on the Exit Control List and will not object to a review appeal against the verdict, which was filed earlier in the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INP ISLAMABAD Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi on Thursday reiterated his promise to the nation that those who broke the law during countrywide protests against the Supreme Court\u2019s acquittal of Asia Bibi will not go unpunished. In a charged speech on the floor of the Senate, Afridi vowed to make an example out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n