New Delhi: Nearly 1,000 protesters have been arrested since supporters of jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan stormed Islamabad, while a key aide and a provincial chief minister have pledged to continue the demonstrations.
On Tuesday (November 26), supporters of Imran Khan marched towards D-Chowk in Islamabad. This came after the ‘final call’ for protest by the jailed politician. The protesters defied a court order and government warnings for this ‘do-or-die’ protest, which took place during the state visit of Belarussian President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Late Tuesday night, security forces cut off the lights and launched a raid in central Islamabad, unleashing a barrage of tear gas. According to Geo News, the protesters were almost completely dispersed.
Shortly after midnight, local authorities declared central Islamabad clear.
Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi in a press conference stated that Bushra Bibi, Imran Khan’s wife, and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Amin Gandapur, also the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and who had been leading the protests, were “on the run”.
In the early hours of Wednesday, the PTI’s central media cell announced a temporary pause to its protest.
“In light of the government’s brutality and plans to turn the federal capital into a “slaughterhouse” for unarmed citizens, we are announcing the temporary suspension of our peaceful protest,” it said.
Hours after the top PTI leaders went incommunicado after fleeing the crackdown, Pakistani media reported that they had arrived at the residence of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati. The provincial government in the volatile province is controlled by the PTI.
Bushra Bibi was expected to address the press conference alongside Gandapur, but ultimately, only the chief minister appeared before the media on Wednesday, stating that the sit-in was “still ongoing”, with only Imran Khan having the authority to call it off.
“When we gave the protest call, we said this would be peaceful. Imran Khan said we will go to D-Chowk peacefully and we will not go ahead of D-Chowk where we are not permitted. [Imran] Khan sahib gave this call, and he said this protest will continue until I call it off,” Gandapur said as per Dawn.
“People have died in this protest, we must pray for them,” the chief minister also said during the press conference held at Swati’s residence.
Describing the sit-in as a “revolution,” Gandapur warned, “if you try and stop it, people will come through other means”.
He said he would file an FIR in connection with the violence against PTI workers and also announced financial compensation for the families of those killed, Geo News reported.
While the PTI claimed that at least eight workers were killed, Pakistani media, citing official and hospital sources, reported that six people lost their lives over three days of protests, including a policeman, three Rangers officials and two civilians.
Islamabad’s inspector general of police (IGP) Ali Nasir Rizvi informed reporters that 954 protesters were arrested by law enforcement agencies between Sunday and Tuesday. Of these, he noted, 610 arrests were made on Tuesday.
He alleged that 37 Afghan nationals were among those arrested.
The Pakistani interior minister said that “Afghan nationals will not be allowed to stay in Islamabad without permission after the end of the next month”, Geo News quoted him as saying.
Describing the protestors as “terrorists”, the senior Islamabad cop said that those who “instigated” the crowd would face legal action.
The IGP further stated that the demonstrators carried “every kind of weapon” during the rally. “They were armed with AK47s, they had pistols, every kind of 7.62mm weapon and sniper rifles,” he said as per Dawn, adding that protesters also used tear gas and slingshots to target law enforcement personnel.
He claimed that over 200 vehicles were impounded by police and that 39 weapons, including Kalashnikovs, pistols and 12-bore firearms, were seized. “These terrorists brought them and used them on police.”
Protests have been going on in several cities in Pakistan since the results of the general elections were released on February 8. The PTI claimed the polls were unfair and rigged.
Tensions have been worsened by the imprisonment of Imran Khan and several other senior PTI leaders since last year.
The convoy of the protesters had travelled from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the party’s power centre.
Roads to Islamabad were blocked, Internet services severed and schools shut.
Military and paramilitary personnel were called to stop the protesters from reaching key points in the city as well as to prevent them from carrying out a sit-in protest near parliament.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the PTI rally, asserting that Pakistan was bearing an economic cost due to the opposition’s agitation.
Addressing a cabinet meeting, Sharif claimed that damages from the PTI’s rally were causing a daily loss of Pakistani Rs 190 billion to the national exchequer, as per Dawn.
Amnesty International South Asia posted of the situation, “The government must fully protect and ensure the rights of protesters and immediately rescind the ‘shoot-on-sight’ orders that provide undue and excessive powers to the military.”
The situation on the roads of Islamabad has now reportedly returned to normal. Roadblocks on major points have been removed and internet services have been restored.
Commentators suggested that the latest protest highlighted a leadership vacuum within the party.
Talat Hussain, an analyst, noted that the PTI’s dependence on social media hype faltered when tested in real-world situations.
“Last night, [the] PTI learned there is more to politics than online narratives,” he told Al Jazeera.
Ahmed Ijaz, a political observer in Islamabad, questioned the sudden departure of Bushra Bibi and Gandapur and suggested their actions could exacerbate divisions within the PTI.
“The way they abandoned supporters at D-Chowk will hurt the party’s ability to formulate its next steps,” he told Al Jazeera.
