Govt condemns vandalism of international fast-food outlets, vows to deal with attackers strictly

Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry on Saturday strongly condemned the recent countrywide incidents of vandalising international fast-food outlets and vowed that the government would deal with the attackers strictly.

Chaudhry’s 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.

Addressing a press conference in Faisalabad, Chaudhry said: “The state has a responsibility to protect the lives and properties, whether they are of Pakistani businesses or foreigners investing here.”

He stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi gave “clear instructions” to the provinces that it was their responsibility to protect the lives and properties of citizens.

“And any such individual who would attack [such outlets] would be dealt with strictly,” Chaudhry asserted.

“The recent few attacks on KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken); around 20 such incidents took place in various locations across Pakistan,” the official stated.

Detailing the incidents further, he said 145 people were arrested and 12 first information reports (FIRs) were registered over the attacks in Punjab. In the federal capital, two such incidents took place, with 15 individuals detained, he added.

The minister of state also welcomed that “all political parties, especially religio-political parties, distanced themselves from this incident”.

“Some party’s worker might have been present in his personal capacity, but no political party connected itself to this. In fact, religious and other political parties have distanced themselves,” he added.

Chaudhry praised the parties’ stances as the “right representation of Islam”.

“After they had been arrested […] they were only seeking forgiveness and were ashamed of their act,” Chaudhry said, stressing that the attackers had admitted to their crimes and expressed regret in video statements.

Responding to a question, he said: “These [attackers] were interrogated after arrests, and I am saying this with full responsibility that no political or religious party of Pakistan was behind this in a coordinated manner.

“No political or religious party announced any such event,” Chaudhry added, thanking those parties for distancing themselves from the vandalism.

A total of at least 21 activists of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) had been arrested for alleged involvement in the attacks in Karachi and Lahore.

Chaudhry clarified: “The franchise owner is a Pakistani and a Muslim. The entire management of this [food chain] is from Pakistan. Whatever items they use, they buy them from Pakistani vendors, shopkeepers and markets. […] Its entire profit also remains within Pakistan.

“What excuse is left then that you carry out attacks?” he asked.

Calling investors Pakistan’s “crown”, Chaudhry reiterated that their protection was the government’s responsibility and it was fulfilling it.

“Implementation of this is ongoing. No concessions of any kind are being given,” he asserted. “After the prime minister’s notice yesterday, no such incident took place across Pakistan,” he noted.

The minister of state highlighted: “This food chain invested more than $100 million in Pakistan and such international food chains pay 100 per cent tax. I say with regret that our other [local] restaurants and food chains evade tax but these [chains] do not.”

He further said that the livelihoods of over 25,000 families, directly or indirectly, were connected to the targeted food chain.

“Such statements and allegations are made about the Muslim world that have no relation with the truth or Islam,” Chaudhry said, lambasting the attackers for adhering neither to their religion nor to the country’s Constitution.

Stating that such attacks were “intolerable”, Chaudhry asserted they would be dealt with in the “same manner as a terrorist attack”.

He recalled the incident in Sheikhupura where a worker “lost his life due to the torture inflicted by those Muslim brothers”.

The minister of state highlighted that several renowned clerics had issued decrees stating that “attacking, boycotting businesses without any reason or spreading hatred against them is un-Islamic”.

Separately, an Islamabad district and sessions court granted bail to six suspects involved in vandalising a restaurant in the capital’s E-11 sector while nine suspects were sent on judicial remand.

The case, heard by Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah, was registered in the Shalimar police station after protesters entered an outlet of an international fast-food chain and forced the staff to shut down.

Attacks on outlets

At least three restaurants in Karachi were attacked between April 7 and April 9, with another one being foiled on April 10. The police said they had booked and arrested 10 TLP activists for one of the incidents.

Other parts of Sindh also witnessed such attacks as miscreants set a restaurant on fire in Mirpurkhas and pelted stones at a KFC outlet in Larkana the next day.

In Lahore, 11 TLP activists were held for pelting stones at and damaging an outlet of a fast-food chain in the city’s Defence Housing Authority.

After an April 14 attack on a restaurant in Rawalpindi, the police said the vandals involved had been traced through closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras. The next day, the Islamabad police said they had detained five people who were involved in vandalising a restaurant in the capital’s E-11 sector.

However, an incident in Punjab’s Sheikhupura turned deadly as an employee present at the outlet was killed as armed men opened fire at it on April 14, the same day the TLP had called for an anti-Israel protest.