{"id":71331,"date":"2025-06-27T11:24:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T11:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional"},"modified":"2025-06-27T11:24:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T11:24:00","slug":"pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional","title":{"rendered":"PAC Slams Police and Army Over Silence on Panga-Wielding Thugs: \u201cBarbaric, Shameful, Unconstitutional\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>The influential quasi-religious watchdog, Public Affairs Committee (PAC), has come out swinging, accusing both the Malawi Police Service (MPS) and Malawi Defence Force (MDF) of complicity and cowardice after they failed to stop violent pro-government thugs who attacked peaceful demonstrators in Lilongwe earlier today.<\/b><\/p>\n

In a strongly worded statement co-signed by PAC Chairperson Monsignor Patrick Thawale and spokesperson Bishop Gilford Matonga, the revered body described the brutal attacks as \u201cbarbaric\u201d and a shameful regression into the dark days of state-sponsored terror.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we witnessed today flies in the face of everything our democracy stands for,\u201d reads the statement. \u201cEven worse, the Malawi Defence Force silently watched the violence unfold\u2014a chilling symbol of negligence and moral collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n

PAC reminded the nation that police had previously committed to safeguarding demonstrators during the 6th All-Inclusive Stakeholders Conference. \u201cTheir failure to uphold this pledge only compounds the growing mistrust in our enforcement agencies,\u201d the statement adds.<\/p>\n

The committee warned that even if the demonstrations were organized by opposition forces, that does not grant the ruling regime a license to crush them. \u201cA truly democratic government does not fear dissent\u2014it protects the right to express it,\u201d PAC declared.<\/p>\n

The silence of the security forces, PAC emphasized, is not neutrality\u2014it is complicity.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. The influential quasi-religious watchdog, Public Affairs Committee (PAC), has come out swinging, accusing both the Malawi Police Service (MPS) and Malawi Defence Force (MDF) of complicity and cowardice after they failed to stop violent pro-government thugs who attacked peaceful demonstrators in Lilongwe earlier today. In a strongly worded statement co-signed by PAC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":71330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[233,371,234],"class_list":["post-71331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"\nPAC Slams Police and Army Over Silence on Panga-Wielding Thugs: \u201cBarbaric, Shameful, Unconstitutional\u201d - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PAC Slams Police and Army Over Silence on Panga-Wielding Thugs: \u201cBarbaric, Shameful, Unconstitutional\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Malawi. The influential quasi-religious watchdog, Public Affairs Committee (PAC), has come out swinging, accusing both the Malawi Police Service (MPS) and Malawi Defence Force (MDF) of complicity and cowardice after they failed to stop violent pro-government thugs who attacked peaceful demonstrators in Lilongwe earlier today. In a strongly worded statement co-signed by PAC […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-27T11:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"PAC Slams Police and Army Over Silence on Panga-Wielding Thugs: \u201cBarbaric, Shameful, Unconstitutional\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-27T11:24:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional\"},\"wordCount\":234,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2025\/06\/MohamadReza1751010887.27591.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Malawi\",\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/pac-slams-police-and-army-over-silence-on-panga-wielding-thugs-barbaric-shameful-unconstitutional\",\"name\":\"PAC Slams Police and Army Over Silence on Panga-Wielding Thugs: \u201cBarbaric, Shameful, Unconstitutional\u201d - 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