Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari on Sunday criticised the recent attacks on international fast-food outlets across the country, pointing that they were carried out in an “organised” manner.
Her statement comes after a string of recent attacks on outlets of international fast-food chains across Sindh and Punjab — as a form of protest and boycott against Israeli atrocities in Gaza — with an incident in Sheikhupura claiming the life of a worker.
Speaking about the incidents during a press conference in Lahore, Bokhari said: “All these attacks were clearly carried out under an organised plan; it was not something that happened on the spur of the moment. That is absolutely not the case.”
The PML-N minister said there “may be political terrorists or inciteful people in the society who were carrying out their activities in recent days”.
She stressed that fast-food outlets were franchises bought by Pakistanis and where Pakistanis worked.
“If the 25,000 Pakistanis who work there become unemployed, will it benefit the people of Gaza? Or will these oppressed people of Gaza benefit in some way from these attacks? It is [only] causing loss to Pakistan […] and they are trying to deface Pakistan that God-forbid businesses cannot be run here,” she said.
Bokhari asserted that the Punjab government would not allow “anyone to take the law and order into their hands, whether it is in the name of religion, solidarity or political terrorism”.
“The kind of fire they are trying to set alight … these people are neither Pakistanis nor love Pakistan. These are those who do not like peace, investment or development in Pakistan. There could also be some foreign hand involved in this that wants to destabilise Pakistan,” she said.
The Punjab minister highlighted that Palestinians had not “taken up arms but were giving their lives” and stressed that Islam guaranteed the protection of people’s lives.
The Israeli offensive, which began in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023, has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and destroyed much of the housing and hospital infrastructure in Gaza. The death toll is feared to be much higher due to thousands still missing under the rubble.
