{"id":16316,"date":"2024-05-09T11:51:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T06:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asia.businessupturn.com\/?p=16316"},"modified":"2024-05-09T11:51:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T06:21:11","slug":"pakistan-pm-shehbaz-sharif-leads-commemoration-on-may-9-anniversary-amidst-political-rifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/south-asia\/pakistan\/pakistan-pm-shehbaz-sharif-leads-commemoration-on-may-9-anniversary-amidst-political-rifts\/16316\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif leads commemoration on May 9 anniversary amidst political rifts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On the first anniversary of the violent protests that erupted across Pakistan on May 9, 2023, following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the nation remains deeply divided over the events of that day.<\/p>\n<p>In a series of statements, current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared there can be \u201cabsolutely no soft-pedalling of what happened on May 9\u201d and \u201cno absolution for those who orchestrated, supported, and assisted the attempt to damage the foundations of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sharif condemned the attacks on national symbols and monuments, stating the \u201csanctity of our sacred homeland was also assaulted.\u201d He vowed that \u201cMay 9 will never happen again\u201d and pledged to move Pakistan towards development while honouring the martyrs.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Let not the shadows of lies, hide the light of truth <\/p>\n<p>One year ago today, not only were symbols of our national pride and honor attacked, but the sanctity of our sacred homeland was also assaulted.<\/p>\n<p>There can absolutely be no soft-pedaling of what happened on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/May9?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#May9<\/a> and there can\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CMShehbaz\/status\/1788406922842128634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 9, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>President Asif Ali Zardari echoed Sharif\u2019s sentiments, terming May 9 a \u201cdark day\u201d when \u201ca politically instigated mob ran amok\u201d and damaged public property as well as military installations in an \u201cattempt to challenge the writ of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the government dedicates the anniversary to martyrs and their families, PM Sharif will chair a special cabinet meeting, while an official ceremony is planned at the Jinnah Convention Centre to pay homage to those who sacrificed their lives.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, Imran Khan\u2019s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which faced a crackdown after the riots with thousands of its workers arrested, plans countrywide gatherings expressing solidarity with their incarcerated leader. Authorities have preemptively imposed restrictions in some areas to counter PTI\u2019s protests.<\/p>\n<p>The violent events of May 9 continue to cast a long shadow, with the PTI alleging they were a \u201cfalse-flag operation\u201d while the government deems it the \u201cbiggest conspiracy\u201d to undermine Pakistan\u2019s defence and integrity. As the nation commemorates the anniversary, calls for accountability, political dialogue and strengthening democracy ring out from both sides of the divide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a series of statements, current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared there can be \u201cabsolutely no soft-pedalling of what happened on May 9\u201d and \u201cno absolution for those who orchestrated, supported, and assisted the attempt to damage the foundations of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":366,"featured_media":16317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[3530,85,9310,8096,10266,3714],"class_list":["post-16316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","tag-imran-khan","tag-pakistan","tag-pakistan-tehreek-e-insaf","tag-pakistan-tehreek-e-insaf-pti","tag-shehbaz-sharif","tag-tehreek-e-insaf"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}