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Last Updated:May 09, 2025, 16:09 IST
Pakistan is not new to the mayhem of May 9. Exactly two years ago, unprecedented violence erupted in the country after former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest
The riots of May 9, 2023 caused damage worth billions and saw more than 40 government buildings, including sensitive military sites, vandalised in Pakistan. (AP/File)
May 9 seems to be an unlucky date for Pakistan. The start of May 9, 2025 could not have gone more wrong for Pakistan as India decisively thwarted its attempt to attack military installations in Jammu, Punjab and Rajasthan with missiles and drones while successfully launching kamikaze drones at Islamabad, Lahore and Sialkot. Pakistan’s failed attempts to strike Indian cities came 24 hours after India bombed terrorist camps in nine locations across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 Indians were killed.
May 9, 2023
Pakistan, however, is not new to the mayhem of May 9. Exactly two years ago, unprecedented violence erupted in the country after former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest. The riots caused damage worth billions and saw more than 40 government buildings, including sensitive military sites, vandalised.
Key sites including the Army Corps Commander’s residence in Rawalpindi, the General Headquarters, the Pakistan Air Force’s Alam Airbase, the ISI office in Faisalabad, and the Frontier Corps fort in Chakra were attacked. These incidents resulted in losses of approximately 2 billion Pakistani rupees and recorded 62 violent events, underscoring Pakistan’s internal vulnerabilities and instability.
On May 9, 2023, following Imran Khan’s arrest, protesters breached the gates of the Pakistani Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, torched the Lahore Corps Commander’s residence, and set fire to security posts and police vehicles across the country.
The Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi and an army convoy in Lahore were also targeted. Protesters blocked roads in major cities including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Multan, Quetta, and Faisalabad.
In an unexpected eruption of anger that caught the armed forces off guard, monuments dedicated to military generals were reportedly vandalised or desecrated. On the same day, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers set fire to police vans and check posts in Karachi, prompting police to respond with tear gas and baton charges.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, demonstrators reportedly torched a replica of Chaghi Mountain, the site of Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear bomb test. Clashes also broke out between PTI supporters and police in Quetta and Gilgit-Baltistan, the report stated.
According to Human Rights Watch, over 4,000 people were arrested in connection with the May 9 violence, including senior PTI leaders. However, PTI claimed that more than 10,000 party members were detained under what it describes as false and politically motivated charges.
Redux On The Cards?
Amid its cross-border misadventures, trouble might be brewing for politically and financially volatile Pakistan at home with supporters of Imran Khan seen carrying out massive bike rallies towards Rawalpindi, where the former prime minister is jailed.
Imran Khan’s party on Friday also filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court seeking his release from jail, claiming a threat to his life due to the impact of the prolonged detention on his health and in view of the current situation with India.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party, in a WhatsApp message, said that the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur approached the Islamabad High Court for the release of the party founder. Khan, 72, has been incarcerated in Adiala Jail of Rawalpindi, the garrison city, since mid-2023 in connection with multiple cases.
Location :Pakistan
First Published:News world This Is Not The First Time May 9 Has Been Unlucky For Pakistan
