A total of 2,276 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers have been arrested from six divisions of Lahore in connection with the party's call for a protest in Islamabad.
Holding a joint press conference with Islamabad Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa on Wednesday, Ali Nasir Rizvi said that protest and terrorism were different things and the two could not be mixed in any way. He added that peaceful protests are held to express one’s point of view and for legitimate reasons, but all kinds of terrorist acts, attacks on police and Rangers and damage to government and private property are not protests.
"Besieging 2.5 million citizens is not a protest," he remarked.
The IGP categorically stated that no kind of terrorist act would be tolerated under the guise of protest, adding that everyone had the right to protest. "But what kind of protest is this where AK-47 and other weapons are used?? If this is a protest then such protests will not be allowed," he asserted.
Ali Nasir Rizvi said that Islamabad was attacked after the operation that started on November 24, claiming that Rangers and police personnel were targeted and fired at directly. He went on to claim that tear-gas shells and provincial government resources, including police officials and citizens, were used under the guise of protest for "terrorism".
He further alleged that the protesters were armed with weapons, including sniper rifles, and were wearing masks.
In a joint operation, Rizvi said, the police and Rangers arrested 954 protesters in three days, including 610 yesterday alone. Moreover, 210 vehicles and a large number of weapons were seized. The terrorists, in the guise of protesters, had brought in weapons with them that were also used on the police, he alleged.
He further said 71 law enforcement officers were injured, including 52 just on Tuesday. Of these, 27 were shot at and three Rangers personnel martyred. The financial losses due to the protests are in billions of rupees, he added.
On this occasion, the chief commissioner said there was a complete procedure laid out for protest in Islamabad, while the high court had also issued an order in this regard. Sangjani could be applied for protest as it is specified for the purpose, he said, adding that the spot was offered on high court orders, but the party said it would protest in any case.
He also claimed that weapons were used in the protest, while many Safe City cameras were destroyed. Green belts and trees were torched and metro stations damaged. On the one hand, international guests were in town, and on the other, the capital was being besieged.
"We tried to stop them at one place. Some police and Rangers personnel have been injured while working for the government's writ," he maintained, adding that containers had been removed in Islamabad and the IGP had been told to keep patrolling all the sensitive spots.
"We will not let any foreigner who hinders the law in Islamabad stay. We will not let anyone stay in Islamabad without security clearance. They also beat up journalists in media houses. There was also news of a petrol station being set on fire, due to which it was closed," Randhawa claimed.
According to details revealed by the police, from Nov 20 to 27, law enforcement agencies conducted operations across the city.
City division: 726 workers arrested
Cantt division: 322 workers arrested
Civil Lines division: 248 workers arrested
Saddar division: 286 workers arrested
Iqbal Town division: 314 workers arrested
Of the total arrested, 653 individuals have been nominated in various cases, while 422 have been handed over to the Investigation Wing for further legal proceedings.
Earlier on Wednesday, Islamabad Inspector General of Police Ali Nasir Rizvi said that in a joint operation, the police and Rangers arrested 954 protesters in three days, including 610 on Tuesday alone.
Moreover, 210 vehicles and a large number of weapons were seized. The terrorists, in the guise of protesters, had brought in weapons with them that were also used on the police, he alleged.
He further said 71 law enforcement officers were injured, including 52 just on Tuesday. Of these, 27 were shot at and three Rangers personnel martyred. The financial losses due to the protests are in billions of rupees, he added. 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”.
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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.
