Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said there “can absolutely be no soft-pedalling of what happened on May 9” last year, referring to the violent riots that took place countrywide after former premier Imran Khan’s arrest. 
The premier said that “not only were symbols of our national pride and honour attacked but the sanctity of our sacred homeland was also assaulted” on that day. “Let not the shadows of lies, hide the light of truth,” the prime minister stated. “Love of our country demands nothing less,” PM Shehbaz added while using the hashtag “May 9 Never Again”. In another post last night, the premier had said the day “separated two thoughts of politics — those who sacrificed politics for the state and those who attacked the state for politics”. “On the one hand, there are the great sons of the nation who shed their blood for their homeland, their great families, and the patriotic public. On the other, there are those characters burning in the fire of hatred, who neither have any pain in their heart for state interests nor have any respect or nobility for national monuments, state institutions, the Constitution or the law,” he added.