LAHORE: Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Sunday that no new military courts were being created for trial of those who carried out attacks on military installations on May 9.

Talking to the media during a rally, held by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) at Chawinda martyrs memorial here to express solidarity with the Pakistan Army, he said that no new military courts were being established and the courts already functional for the last 75 years would hear cases of the miscreants under the law of the land.

Khawaja Asif made it clear that the government was not snatching anyone’s basic rights and cases would be pursued against those whose faces and identity was confirmed through footage while attacking the military installations.

The defence minister said the May-9 violent attacks on military installations were an attack on Pakistan’s integrity and existence.

He said, in fact, he could not differentiate between the attack that happened at the Lahore corps commander’s house, Mianwali air base, the GHQ, and the attacks carried out by India at Chawinda martyrs memorial in Sialkot and other places in Pakistan.

He said the attack on GHQ during the May 9 violent protests might be included in India’s anti-Pakistan objectives. He said country’s existence was attacked on May 9 and a person (Imran Khan) instigated that attack just for the lust of power.

He said it was a matter of empathy. “How the families and heirs of the martyred would have felt when a group of miscreants attacked the sacred monuments, he added. The defence minister said the government was also snatched from the PML-N and the PPP, but they never attacked the defence installations and martyrs monuments.

He also visited the martyrs’ monument in Chawinda and laid a wreath on the graves of the martyrs and offered Fateha. He said the Pakistan Army was standing firm like a mountain, and the brave soldiers were laying their lives for the beloved country.