The country’s civilian and military high command held lengthy meetings where they expressed extremely negative opinions about the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) ongoing protest movement, calling it “a gang of miscreants trained by banned organizations rather than a political party,” and vowed to take legal action against it.
The first meeting, which was presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and lasted almost five hours, was attended by the federal ministers and representatives of the other members of the ruling coalition.
The second meeting, which lasted an hour, included Chief of Army Staff Gen. Asim Munir and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen. Nadeem Anjum, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told the media on Monday night.
The two meetings decided to take strong measures against individuals responsible for violent protests and the looting of both public and private property, according to an official statement released after the sessions.
The decision to hold the national and provincial assembly elections simultaneously was also reached in the huddles.
The meeting also voted to take legal action against those responsible for “smear campaigns” that target state institutions including the military and judiciary.
The meeting strongly condemned attacks on police and Rangers, who were implementing court orders, and labeled its hostility against the state.
“All evidence and proofs are available, under which stern action will be taken against those involved in the unrest,” it added.
The participants decried “objectionable” comments made about PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and raised concern over a new audio tape involving former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and PTI attorney Khawaja Tariq Rahim.
The statement claimed that a joint session of parliament will be conducted on Wednesday (tomorrow) and that other PTI leaders and workers would be detained in the coming days.
Later that evening, the NA Secretariat announced that a combined sitting had been called for March 22.
