November 28, 2024
ISLAMABAD – Human rights organisation Amnesty International on Wednesday demanded a transparent investigation of the state’s “deadly crackdown” to disperse PTI supporters from Islamabad’s D-Chowk where they had gathered for the party’s high-stakes protest.
More than 10,000 protesters surged into the city on the weekend, defying a ban on public gatherings and a lockdown to skirmish with 20,000 security forces enlisted to turn them back, AFP reported. As PTI supporters inched towards the heavily barricaded D-Chowk late on Tuesday, the police and security forces employed intense teargas shelling to disperse the protesters.
After a day of clashes between security forces and protesters in the city’s Red Zone ended in the party leadership’s hasty retreat, the PTI announced in the early hours of Wednesday that it was calling off its planned protest sit-in “for the time being”.
What we know so far:
- PTI suspends protest ‘for the time being’
- Data services restored in capital, routes reopened
- PTI claims at least 8 dead in ‘shooting at protesters’
- Info minister says ‘no state firing on protesters’
- PTI’s Yousafzai questions leadership’s ‘absence’, criticises Bushra
- HRCP calls for ‘political introspection’, dialogue
Overnight, security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters wielding sticks and slingshots, as roadblocks were set ablaze. By early Wednesday, AFP staff saw the main thoroughfare towards Islamabad’s government enclave cleared of crowds, and security forces in riot gear being bussed away from the area.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement they had “bravely repulsed the protesters”. The PTI harshly criticised the interior minister for his statements and blamed him for the alleged violence against its supporters, claiming multiple deaths.
Condemning the violence, Amnesty issued a statement in a post on X, saying: “Yet again, protesters in Pakistan have faced a brutal and lethal crackdown shrouded in a callous opacity by the authorities.
“Urgent and transparent investigation is needed into the deadly crackdown on protesters.”
Babu Ram Pant, deputy regional director for South Asia at Amnesty International, said that the escalation of violence, shutdown of mobile internet services, mass detentions and “alarming rhetoric” against PTI protesters by the authorities spoke of a “pattern of intolerance” for the right to freedom of peaceful assembly throughout the country, adding that similar clampdowns were witnessed earlier this year against Baloch and Pakhtun protesters.
“Disturbing reports and testimonies regarding the unlawful use of force, including lethal ammunition, against protesters, during a government-enforced communication blackout, are emerging from yesterday. Continued restrictions on reporting by media and independent observers have made it difficult to verify the number of casualties and raise urgent questions about accountability for human rights abuses.
“Amnesty International calls for a prompt, thorough, impartial, effective and transparent investigation into the deaths and injuries of protesters as well as the unlawful use of force, including lethal and less-lethal weapons, by security personnel. Authorities must also immediately release all protesters detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly,” the statement quoted him as saying.
Earlier this morning, the heavily fortified Red Zone was empty of protesters but several of their vehicles were left behind, including the remains of a truck from which former first lady Bushra Bibi had been leading the protests that appeared charred by flames, according to Reuters witnesses.
As PTI supporters faced off with security personnel across the federal capital on Tuesday, with both sides using tear gas and rubber bullets, at least two were killed and over 60 were injured during clashes.
The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) confirmed the death of two civilians and injuries to around 60 persons, including security personnel. At least three injured policemen and 10 civilians were also shifted to Polyclinic for treatment.
A total of six lives were lost in the three days of protests, which included a policeman and three Rangers officials who perished in a vehicular accident, officials and hospital sources said.
PTI claims at least 8 dead in shooting at protesters
In its press release, which announced the suspension of its protest, the PTI claimed that “dozens” of its workers were shot at directly and killed, of which it said it had the details of eight and listed their purported names.
The PTI said it was “not a military or armed party and neither does it consider itself to be willing to have its citizens slaughtered by state murderers”.
Highlighting that its supporters cleared “all difficulties, obstacles, violence, savage barbarism” to reach D-Chowk but “would not allow the bodies of its citizens to pile up”.
According to the press release, the PTI had a “long history peaceful political struggle and kept blocking the way of the government plan to pile up bodies since November 24”.
The party also stated the dates of previous protests since its 2022 ouster where it said it “failed each of the government’s attempts to drench every peaceful protest in blood” — three from 2022 and four from 2023.
While calling off the protest, the PTI also reaffirmed its intention to “keep struggling” for “haqeeqi azadi” (actual freedom).
The PTI paid tribute to citizens and its workers for coming to Islamabad from all across the country for the protest, as well as overseas Pakistanis who heeded its call for global protests. It further said it was immensely grateful to the residents of Islamabad and Rawalpindi for the hospitality they offered to the party convoys.
The PTI also shared a photo of a “list of injured persons in Federal Government Polyclinic, Islamabad” on November 26 “during political protest”, which listed the details of 26 people with “gunshot” wounds and two others who succumbed to their injuries.
The two men who died were aged 20 and 24 years, according to the list, while those injured were aged between 19 and 50 years and belonged to mostly KP, with a few from the federal capital.
The PTI called the document a “partial list of those admitted to a single hospital in Islamabad”.
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja issued a video message and similarly alleged that “at least 20 people were martyred”, adding that the party had the “complete evidence” available for eight dead and it would make the data for the others available too.
He further alleged that hospital data and records in Islamabad were being tampered and manipulated with doctors told to not provide the data to families. “Straight firing was carried out … they were live bullets and people lost their lives. Shells were directly fired at people which caused deaths,” Raja claimed.
The PTI official said that it would be a “complete lie” for anyone to deny that no firing was carried out by law enforcement agencies, adding that the party would pursue and file cases against all those involved.
In a separate post earlier today, the PTI said a “massacre has unfolded in Pakistan at the hands of security forces”.
It accused the armed security forces of launching a “violent assault on peaceful PTI protesters in Islamabad, firing live rounds with the intent to kill as many people as possible”. It went on to compare last night’s clashes to the violence in East Pakistan in 1971.
“The rulers have learned nothing from history and are prepared to destroy the country to cling to their illegitimate power,” the post went on to say. “With hundreds dead and countless injured, the interior minister’s threat to kill and then the declaration of ‘victory’ over slaughtered innocents is enough evidence of the regime’s inhumanity.”
PTI called on the international community to condemn the “atrocity and the erosion of democracy and humanity in Pakistan”, as well as take action against it.
Gandapur says protest ‘still ongoing’
Meanwhile, after fleeing from the site of the Islamabad protest, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur resurfaced in Mansehra, where he assured his party workers that the “sit-in is still ongoing”.
Addressing a press conference in the afternoon in Mansehra, CM Gandapur said that it would not end till PTI founder Imran Khan ordered so.
“People have died in this protest, we must pray for them,” the chief minister said during the press conference held at the residence of KP Speaker Babar Saleem Swati.
“We have been targets of violence,” he said, lamenting that the PTI was not permitted to protest whenever it sought to.
“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,” CM Gandapur highlighted.
The chief minister remarked, “It is not necessary that every sit-in has people in it.”
“Unfortunately, our party has been cracked down upon, our mandate has been stolen. Our leader is in jail, our leader’s wife was thrown in jail,” Gandapur said, referring to Imran and Bushra, who was recently freed on bail after nine months in jail.
“We were going peacefully, talking peacefully, and in the end, the govt came in our path and inflicted violence on us. Why were bullets rained down on us?” the KP CM asked.
Terming the planned sit-in a “revolution”, the chief minister said: “If you try and stop it, people will come through other means.”
Speaking alongside Gandapur, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan alleged there was “an attack with a murderous intent” on Gandapur and Bushra Bibi at D-Chowk, where they were leading their convoy.
“We are a democratic and peaceful party. We were shot at, which I gravely condemn,” the MNA said.
Ayub also called for an investigation into the deaths of two policemen and three Rangers personnel.
He claimed “rescuing” five policemen from Pathargarh in Islamabad. “We are not unjust but others are unjust to us in return,” he lamented.
Bushra Bibi, CM Gandapur and Ayub were set to address an “emergency” press conference at 11am today, according to Taimur Saleem Swati, senior vice president of PTI’s Hazara chapter. However, when the two men finally addressed the media, the former first lady was not seen alongside them.
Gandapur’s announcement came after the PTI called off the protest.
A press release shared by the party on its official X account read: “In view of the government’s brutality and the government’s plan to turn the capital into a slaughterhouse for unarmed citizens, [we] announce the suspension of the peaceful protest for the time being.”
It added that future plan of action would be announced “in light of the directions” of its incarcerated founder Imran Khan after the party’s political and core committees presented their “analyses of the state brutality” to him.
The statement, issued by the party spokesperson, condemned the alleged “killing” and “terror and brutality against peaceful protesters in the name of an operation”.
The party appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi to take suo motu notice of the alleged “brutal murder of martyred [party] workers” and order legal action against the prime minister and interior minister as well as Islamabad and Punjab police chiefs for “attempt to murder”.
“We will chalk out the new strategy later after proper consultation, Mohammad Asim, PTI’s Peshawar president, told Reuters. He said that Bushra Bibi as well as CM Gandapur had returned “safely” to KP from Islamabad.
The late-night retreat by the PTI leadership, including Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and CM Gandapur, came after the latter was heard telling the protesters “to go home, have dinner and return tomorrow”.
Nearly 1,000 protesters held: Islamabad IG
Meanwhile, the Islamabad police chief said the law enforcement agencies had arrested nearly 1,000 protesters after crowds were evicted from the federal capital in a sweeping security crackdown.
Addressing a press conference, Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ali Nasir Rizvi said 954 protesters were arrested between Sunday and Tuesday by law enforcement agencies when the crowds came within 1.6 kilometres of the government enclave. He said that 610 of the arrests were made “only on Tuesday alone”.
“We will not tolerate any terrorist activity,” Rizvi said. “How can you call it a protest when law enforcement personnel are fired upon, or when public property is damaged?
“This is not protest … this is terrorism and terrorism is a form of crime,” the IGP said. He warned that the protesters and those who “instigated” them would be booked.
According to the IGP, the demonstrators wielded “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, adding that protesters used tear gas and slingshots to attack law enforcement personnel.
The IGP added that over 200 vehicles were impounded by police, while 39 weapons were seized, including Kalashnikovs, pistols and 12-bore weapons. “These terrorists brought them and used them on police,” Rizvi said.
“Seventy-one law enforcement officers were injured over the last three days, with 52 of them injured only yesterday,” he said. “Of those 52, 27 have suffered firearm injuries.”
Meanwhile, a statement from the Punjab police issued on the X account of state broadcaster PTV said 22 vehicles were damaged while over 170 personnel were injured and one dead.
Pakistan incurred Rs190bn loss daily in protests: PM Shehbaz
Meanwhile, addressing a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif lamented that the damages from the PTI rally inflicted a daily loss of Rs190 billion to the national exchequer.
“This is hurting exports … containers bound for Karachi port are being used to block roads,” the PM said. “There is no more unforgivable crime than damaging the country for personal gain.”
He added that life in the twin cities had ground to a standstill. “Businesses were closed, factory owners were worried and labourers were unable to afford meals,” he said.
The PM added that as a result of the PTI descending on the capital, the stock market plunged, causing further economic loss.
“The stock market exceeded 99,000 points three days ago, a historic milestone,” Shehbaz said. “Within a day, it plummeted by 4,000 points, but once peace was restored, it rose above 99,000 once more.”
He added that investments only went “where there is peace”, branding the protesters “enemies of Pakistan’s development” due to the impact of the rally on the country’s economy.
The prime minister reiterated that the government needed to make harsh decisions to save the state and maintain Pakistan’s progress and prosperity. “We cannot spend all of our energy trying to stop these miscreants,” he said, referring to the PTI and their supporters.
“Either we make these choices or deal with these sit-ins daily.”
He said he would not allow the state’s efforts to revive the economy go to waste due to civil and social disturbance. “I will not let this happen. I want to make it very clear,” he warned.
PTI’s Yousafzai questions leadership’s ‘absence’, criticises Bushra
Separately, in another instance of apparent reservations among the PTI, former KP minister Shaukat Yousafzai questioned why the party’s central leadership was “not seen” at the much-touted protest.
“No one from our central leadership was there,” Yousafzai, the party’s KP secretary general, told Dawn.com.
PTI leader Shaukat Yousafzai speaks in a video statement. — via Umar Bacha
“Where did our leadership disappear? Where were Barrister Gohar, Salman Akram Raja and [Sher Afzal] Marwat?” he asked.
“The people who call themselves leaders, where were they? I only saw Ali Amin Gandapur, Asad Qaiser, Omar Ayub and Ali […]. The other leadership was not seen, why was that?”
The PTI leader also said it was a “mistake” to term the protest a “final call”. “We are politicians, we must pay attention to the mistakes we make. This [protest] should not have been called final call.”
Yousafzai also questioned why “there was no dialogue” with the government, taking aim at why Bushra’s decisions regarding the protest were heeded.
Referring to KP government spokesperson Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif’s statements of Imran agreeing to the government’s offer of an alternative protest venue, he wondered: “Why was this not followed? Who stopped it?”
“Gandapur was made a sacrificial goat. He had pressure from the workers and the party,” the PTI leader told Dawn.com.
“Now the question arises that Bushra Bibi didn’t have any authority. Yes, she is Imran’s wife, she has a lot of love for him. But the party’s decisions should have been made by the party,” he added, referring to Saif saying that the PTI founder’s wife had not agreed to the venue proposal.
“Why did they sideline the party’s old workers and leadership?” the PTI leader asked, stressing that party supporters came on Imran’s call, not someone else’s.
“If someone said Bushra wasn’t listening to them, then she should have been removed from the party. Why cause all this chaos in the party?” Yousafzai asked, terming it “cruelty” with the PTI and Imran.
“We are political people, who stopped us from doing dialogue? Who decided not to go to Sangjani, and why? All these questions are what the workers will ask, and we will have to give answers,” he asserted.
“But what did we do? We caused the party so much loss. We just abandoned our workers.”
While Yousafzai acknowledged that the party needed to “review our own mistakes”, he also decried the “cruelty that the government inflicted, which is not something secret”, comparing it to the Israeli administration.
Nevertheless, the ex-minister also hailed that “people showed up in such large numbers and braved hardships to reach D-Chowk” to support the PTI. “There was a one-sided crackdown on the people. Political culture has been ruined,” he said.
Speaking about the deaths of policemen and Rangers, Yousafzai said he was “disheartened about those who were martyred from both sides”.
“Now they (the government) are saying they have cleaned Islamabad. No, you have hurt people, you have killed people. You have lost even when you have won,” the PTI leader quipped.
“We will definitely reflect on our mistakes and make our party stand again. God-willing, we will struggle again,” Yousafzai said, urging workers to be united.
Similarly, Imran’s sister Aleema Khanum also heaped criticism on those leading the main convoy.
“Why was the sound and light on the container shut early evening? As a result, in total darkness, there were no instructions or any guidance available for the people on the ground.
“We pleaded all evening for the light and sound on the container to be turned on, but there was no response by the people giving instructions,” she said in a post on X.
Data services restored, routes reopened
Meanwhile, data services, after remaining suspended for four days, were restored in various areas of Islamabad — including Red Zone and Bani Gala — as well as Rawalpindi, Dawn.com correspondents reported.
The internet services were “restored at 7am”, PTA Chairman (retired) Major General Hafeezur Rehman confirmed to Dawn.com.
A Dawn.com correspondent at the site in the morning reported there was no public at D-Chowk but police and other security personnel were present.
According to the Associated Press of Pakistan, business activities were resuming in the federal capital, with the district administration’s cleanup efforts underway.
While containers blocking various roads in the city had been removed, APP said, the removal of containers from Murree Road, which was sealed off for three days due to the protests, was in progress.
All motorways were reopened for traffic, including routes between Islamabad and Lahore, the report noted. A Dawn.com correspondent also confirmed that containers were being removed from the road connecting Islamabad to Rawalpindi.
Public transport and bus stations had been reopened as well, the correspondent added.
No state firing on protesters: info minister Tarar
On the other hand, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar refuted the PTI’s allegations of security forces shooting at its protesters.
State-run Radio Pakistan quoted Tarar as saying no firing was carried out on PTI protesters and there were no fatalities among them.
During a visit to the D-Chowk and Jinnah Avenue in Islamabad overnight, he said that while the protesters were dispersed, there was no state firing involved.
The minister said PTI protesters had damaged public property, referring to the deserted vehicles left behind by the protesters. He criticised CM Gandapur and Bushra for fleeing after “making big claims”.
Speaking to the media, he claimed that the PTI convoys “crashed their own vehicles into each other” in a hurry to flee the scene. He described the protesters as leaving behind their shoes and clothes while fleeing.
The minister further said that forensics would be carried out of “documents that got burned in the container” being used by the PTI, implying it was done on purpose.
“The interior minister was constantly monitoring. That the right time would come and then we would deal with them,” Tarar said, asserting that the government did not want bloodshed.
Taking a jibe at Imran terming the protest a “final call”, Tarar dismissed it as nothing more than “a missed call”, the APP reported.
In a separate televised statement, echoing Naqvi’s stance from yesterday, asserted that there were “no concessions and no talks under any circumstances” with the PTI.
HRCP calls for ‘political introspection’
Amid the tense political atmosphere, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) called for “political introspection”, demanding that the government and the PTI “enter a purposeful political dialogue”.
“HRCP demands that the government and the opposition, the PTI, immediately enter a purposeful political dialogue, both on the floor of the house and between different political parties,” it said in a statement.
“It is high time that they agree on a peaceful way forward instead of whipping up the emotions of their respective political workers and bringing the country to a standstill, particularly in Islamabad and Punjab, violating others’ freedom of movement and livelihood in the process,” the group stressed.
HRCP called for “political introspection” for all sides, saying it was “deeply disturbing” that the loss of life in protests and rallies “has been of little concern for any of our political actors”.
“Whether law enforcers or political workers, any casualty must be unacceptable for all,” it stated, adding that the group shared the grief of those who lost family members in “violent protests and through the unwarranted use of force by the authorities”.
Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at The Wilson Center, said on X that “Pakistan’s protests had no winners”.
Anger towards the establishment has increased over the crackdown, he said, while at the same time, PTI was forced to retreat.
“Pakistan on the whole is burdened by a worsening confrontation that distracts from [economic and] security crises,” Kugelman highlighted.
The analyst, in a separate post, pointed out a “problematic disconnect” between Imran and the rest of the PTI leadership.
“[Imran] Khan mobilised and galvanised. He said, fight to the end. And then PTI’s other leaders angered the base for not showing up or abandoning the cause,” he noted. “Today the gulf between Khan and the rest of the PTI leadership came into sharp relief.”
Road to protest
The PTI’s protest, which the government was determined to foil with force, was originally scheduled to be staged on November 24.
However, the party’s convoys took a breather on Sunday night as PTI leaders said they were in “no hurry” to reach the federal capital for their ‘do or die’ protest.
The PTI protesters, some of them employing industrial fans to counter tear gas, crossed Islamabad’s Toll Plaza on Monday night as the government vowed to not spare those behind a cop’s death in “violence of miscreants”.
A stalemate in reported talks between the PTI and the government had continued, with PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan saying the government had “not made any contact” with the party and Naqvi similarly ruling out any negotiations with the party.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ruled that PTI’s planned protest was unlawful and had directed the government to take all necessary measures to maintain law and order in Islamabad without disrupting public life, particularly as the Belarusian president’s arrival coincided with the protest.
