Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari on Sunday criticised the recent attacks on international fast-food outlets across the country, pointing out 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. “It is important to note that all these attacks are taking place according to a plan in Punjab only,” she claimed. Attacks on fast-food outlets of international chains have also been reported in Sindh’s Karachi, Mirpurkhas and Larkana. Asserting that Punjab was “making rapid progress”, the PML-N leader reiterated that an “extremist group was doing such acts with proper planning”. The Punjab minister again warned that miscreants would be dealt with “iron hands and would not be spared”. The PML-N leader said there “may be political terrorists or inciteful people in the society who were carrying out their activities in recent days”. Answering a question, Bokhari said the government has a “strict eye on these groups”, adding that arrests have been made and the suspects would be served with justice. She said the government would decide when it was appropriate to disclose details, adding that the groups “did not want Pakistan’s peace or progress and had the old habit of using religion and doing politics over bodies”. The Punjab minister also urged courts to give the perpetrators “exemplary punishment”. 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. The PML-N leader asserted that her party’s 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. “What was his fault?” Bokhari asked, referring to the slain worker in Sheikhupura. She called on the society and the media to discourage such attacks, highlighting that various political and religious parties were carrying out peaceful protests, on which “no one has any objections”. She added that the armed forces had also expressed their commitment to thwart the actions of terrorists or violent groups. Sharing details of the attacks, Bokhari said a total of 149 “miscreants” had been arrested so far for their alleged involvement and 14 first information reports (FIRs) had been registered. Giving a district-wise breakdown, she stated that 71 suspects were taken into custody over the Sheikhupura case where a worker was killed; 33 people were arrested in three cases in Rawalpindi; 11 suspects were held over three FIRs across Lahore, while another 11 were detained in a Multan case. Moreover, eight individuals were arrested in a case in Gujranwala; seven persons were held over two cases in Bahawalpur; six people were taken into custody in Sahiwal; and two were arrested in Rahim Yar Khan, while an FIR was also registered in Faisalabad. Responding to a query, Bokhari stressed that renowned clerics need to talk about the matter “more strongly” to create awareness among the public about the attacks causing losses and harm to the citizens. The minister noted that the government was taking actions to help Palestinians, including the dispatching of aid for the besieged enclave. The Israeli offensive on Gaza, which began in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Oct 7, 2023, has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and destroyed much of the housing and hospital infrastructure in the enclave. The death toll is feared to be much higher due to thousands still missing under the rubble. 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 activists of the religio-political party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) 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.