Echoes of Detonation May 9th

Very little seems to have changed in the year after the events of May 9, 2023, at least in terms of politics.
Indeed, the PTI and the security establishment seem to be at odds even more; neither group is willing to soften their aggressive postures against one another.
The military’s spokesperson made it plain during a press conference on Tuesday that nothing would happen until the PTI publicly apologized and rejected “the politics of anarchy and hate.” The PTI responded by calling the statement a “pack of lies” and “full of contradictions.”
It is indisputable that the narrative the PTI created after its removal was a major factor in the violence aimed at military facilities and symbols on this day last year in various regions of the nation.
The party had been blaming and embarrassing the security establishment for its removal from power in April 2022 for months, painting the potential for its chief’s arrest as a “red line.” This explosive mixture, set off by the contentious detention of Imran Khan by Rangers officers from the Islamabad High Court premises, burst into historically large-scale rioting by PTI supporters.
The PTI ought to admit that by encouraging its supporters to take such an inappropriate stance, it behaved in a very reckless manner. The state launched retaliatory attacks against thousands of people, and the day’s events hastened the rise of unelected forces’ power within the state’s legislative and executive branches.
But the state is also not exempt from responsibility. Acting with severe tactics that seemed to have been lifted straight out of the playbooks of previous dictatorships, it responded rather than exercising caution and proving that it was just interested in seeking justice for the harm that it had been perpetrated.
For example, numerous civilian suspects’ homes were invaded, vandalized, and their residents were harassed by state forces in an attempt to bring “justice” for PTI supporters’ defacement of various sites. Even women detainees, who are granted particular protections and privileges under Pakistani law, were denied bail on multiple occasions and detained without charge in a number of questionable circumstances.
Pakistan’s political turmoil has its roots in the PTI-military standoff. Maybe the government should intervene since neither party appears interested in reaching a compromise. It may guarantee an open legal system by providing its finest resources to prosecute the May 9 cases in civil courts.