Ishaq Khan
PESHAWAR: As many as four people died and 27 others suffered injuries on Wednesday in the violent protests being held by workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in Peshawar following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan on corruption charges.
Muhammad Asim, Spokesperson of Lady Reading Hospital (LHR) Peshawar, confirmed that four dead bodies have been brought to the Hospital in the ongoing violent protests in the provincial capital. He added that the condition of most of the injured is out of danger as most people have received bullets in the legs and hands, and one of them got a bullet injury on the face. The emergency department of LHR is currently on high alert to treat the injured people, Asim said.
Earlier, the workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Wednesday attacked the building of Radio Pakistan in Peshawar where they tortured the staff, destroyed equipment in different sections and set it on fire.
Radio Pakistan Director General Tahir Hassan told media persons that hundreds of PTI workers broke into the building of Radio Pakistan in Peshawar where they wreaked havoc on the newsroom and various sections. The miscreants had attacked the building of Radio Pakistan on Tuesday as well. They set fire to Chagai Monument and Radio Auditorium.
They also destroyed records and other materials in various sections of the building. Vehicles parked in the building of Radio Pakistan had also been set on fire. The miscreants also looted the equipment including cameras, microphones and other devices. They also tortured the staff including women that attempted to stop them.
The security forces have succeeded to expel the violent protesters from the building of the Radio Pakistan Peshawar but the PTI’s miscreants in Assembly Chowk have sprung up again and tear gas shilling started by police.
Due to violent protests in different areas of Peshawar, traffic has been suspended on the Khyber Road and Grand Trunk (GT) Road on Wednesday.
Violent protests continued on the second day in different parts of the country including in the major cities such as Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Quetta, with thousands of PTI workers taking part.
Angry mob set fire to cattle market, Edhi ambulances: The angry mob and PTI protesters during violent protests set on fire a cattle market at Chargano chowk and parked Edhi ambulances at Edhi centre near Suri Pull.
The police managed to disperse the protesters from Chargano Chowk, Bacha Khan Chowk and Suri Pull but they set on fire a car parked outside traffic police office, Edhi ambulances and the whole cattle market. Several police personnel were also injured in stone pelting by the protesters.
Chakdara historical FC fort attacked and ransacked by protesters in Dir: Hundreds of the PTI charged workers late on Tuesday night stormed into the historical and ancient Chakdara Scouts’ Fort, set it on fire, ransacked it and burnt several vehicles of the Frontier Corps. The attack on the fort forced the personnel to leave their position in order to avert any bloodshed on the occasion. Earlier the security forces opened fire on the protesters when they tried to break the fort’s gate and enter into it.
Several protesters were injured out of which one Zakir,a resident of Khadagzai Lower Dir was killed while 17 others were injured when law enforcers opened fire on the attackers. The injured included Osama of Darbar Chakdara, Bakht Zada of Asbanr, Suhail of Khar Batkhela, Numan of Juligram, Lateef of Alladand Malakand, Aminul Haq of Shamozo, Raidullah of Agra Malakand, Zeeshan of Chakdara, Waseem of Batkhela, Taj Badshah of Amandara, Wahidullah of Babagano Agra and others were shifted to the hospitals in Chakdara, Batkhela and Timergara where their condition is stated to be out of danger.
The protesters also burnt gates, windows, vehicles and power generators and ransacked the building. A spokesman of the Frontier Corps and Chakdara Scouts’ Fort on Wednesday informed local journalists that all elements involved in attacking the government installation and official building of the forces had been identified through safe city project and CCTV cameras and they would be dealt with according to the law. The spokesman said that leaders of a particular party instigated the party workers to attack the government installation and other sensitive places through their social media accounts the other day.
Following the instructions, the party workers stormed into sensitive buildings and damaged them badly. He said the law enforcers showed great tolerance, patience and humbleness to avoid any bloodshed on the occasion. The spokesman appreciated the FC jawan for showing patience and tolerance. He said the culprits had been identified and no one would be spared. He said the law would take its course and such sabotage acts would no longer be tolerated in the region.
Meanwhile, the management of the Frontier Corps School and College Balambat in Lower Dir on Wednesday informed local journalists that the 37-rooms’ school building had been completely destroyed in the ransacking and looting of the protesters last night. Hundreds of the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf charged activists entered the FC Public School Balambat on Tuesday night and set the furniture, windows and doors on fire. The administration said the school had 37 classrooms, a total of 1430 students and a well-equipped science and computer lab.
“There are only 250 students from the families of armed personnel while the rest of the students belong to common citizens,” the management said. It said the protesters also set ablaze the newly constructed portion for the higher and secondary classes on which millions of rupees had been spent. They said the protesters also took away a cash of Rs 900,000, laptops and air conditioners from the building. The whole building was set on fire that inflicted millions of rupees loss to it, the management said, adding that it would take months for restoration of power supply as the entire system had been damaged. It said the students’ learning would be badly affected for years. It said the protesters even did not spare to burn the copies of the Holy Quran.
Meanwhile, the Lower Dir police took the former PTI MPAs Malik Liaqat Ali, Malik Shafiullah Khan, Azam Khan and former tehsil councilor Imtiaz Khan into custody under the 16 MPO here on Wednesday while raids are being made to arrest rest of the party lawmakers, tehsil chairmen and senior workers. The police registered cases against 34 PTI activists including its former lawmakers, tehsil chairmen and senior workers for instigating other workers against the government and its installation and attacking police officials.
The PTI workers continued protest sit-ins at Timergara Shaheed Chowk, Zulam Bridge and Munda. The main roads were blocked and traffic on them was badly interrupted. The protesting workers carrying party banners and placards also chanted slogans against the government and state institutions for arresting the party chief Imran Khan and other leaders.
A clash was also reported among the PTI and workers of another political party when the protesters tried to close shops forcibly in Munda bazaar. The police resorted to aerial firing after the clash to disperse the workers of both the parties.
One Zakir,a resident of Khadagzai Lower Dir was killed while 12 others were injured when law enforcers opened fire on protesters who tried to enter the FC Fort Chakdara here late on Tuesday night. The injured include Osama of Darbar Chakdara, Bakht Zada of Asbanr, Suhail of Khar Batkhela, Numan of Juligram, Lateef of Alladand Malakand, Aminul Haq of Shamozo, Raidullah of Agra Malakand, Zeeshan of Chakdara, Waseem of Batkhela, Taj Badshah of Amandara and Wahidullah of Babagano Agra. The injured were shifted to the hospitals in Chakdara, Batkhela and Timergara where their condition is stated to be out of danger.
Supporters of Pakistan ex-PM plan march to capital to protest arrest: Supporters of Imran Khan were planning to march to Islamabad on Wednesday where the former Pakistan prime minister is in custody in a corruption case, raising fears of more clashes with security forces.
Mobile data services in the country were shut while Twitter, YouTube and Facebook were disrupted. Television carried watered-down coverage of violence that erupted on Tuesday. Authorities in three of Pakistan’s four provinces have imposed an emergency order banning all gatherings after Khan’s supporters clashed with police.
Khan was arrested from the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday by Pakistan’s anti-corruption agency. Police said a court hearing would take place at the police guest house where he is being held. The arrest came a day after the country’s powerful military rebuked Khan for repeatedly accusing a senior military officer of trying to engineer his assassination and the former armed forces chief of being behind his removal from power last year.
In response, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party called for a “shutdown” across the country, with Khan’s supporters clashing with police in many cities and storming military buildings in Lahore and Rawalpindi, according to witnesses and videos shared by his party. Supporters in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were asked to gather early on Wednesday in Swabi city to leave for Islamabad as part of a convoy, the party wrote on Twitter.
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the party’s senior leadership was in Islamabad to meet Khan and will approach the Supreme Court to challenge an Islamabad High Court order that deemed Khan’s arrest legal. “We continue to call PTI family workers, supporters and the people of Pakistan onto the streets for peaceful protest against this unconstitutional behaviour,” Qureshi wrote on Twitter.
A police spokesman told reporters that Khan will not be brought to court and his scheduled hearing will take place at the location where he is being held under custody in the Islamabad police lines area. At least one person was killed on Tuesday and 12 others injured, including six police officers, in clashes in the southern city of Quetta, provincial home minister Ziaullah Langove said. Khan, 70, a cricket hero-turned-politician, was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. Khan has not slowed his campaign against the ouster even though he was wounded in a November attack on his convoy as he led a protest march to Islamabad calling for snap general elections.
His arrest comes at a time when Pakistanis are reeling from the worst economic crisis in decades, with record high inflation and anaemic growth. An International Monetary Fund bailout package has been delayed for months even though foreign exchange reserves are barely enough to cover a month’s imports. The corruption case is one of more than 100 registered against Khan since his ouster after four years in power. In most of the cases, Khan faces being barred from holding public office if convicted, with a national election scheduled for November.
Political infighting is common in Pakistan, where no prime minister has yet fulfilled a full term and where the military has ruled for nearly half of the country’s history.
Meanwhile, Government authorities after imposing section 144 in Islamabad have issued a “Red Alert” for the Islamabad Capital territory (ICT) directing police officials’ deployed in the city to keep their weapons during duty.
According to the media reports on Wednesday, district management directed to deploy Rangers at important installations, armed police personnel will be deployed at the intersections. It is pertinent to note that officers were not allowed to carry arms to deal with protests.
It is most likely that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and former prime minister Imran Khan will be presented before the accountability court at the Police Lines Headquarters in H-11/1 Islamabad on Wednesday (today). Media sources quoted that authorities have decided to take strict action against those who damage public and private property. A large number of protesters allegedly vandalized public and private properties after the arrest of Chairman PTI Imran Khan by the Rangers.
DIG Lahore seriously injured while clearing corps commander’s house: A senior police officer was seriously injured while tackling PTI protesters who attacked the residence of Lahore Corps Commander on Tuesday. DIG Operations Lahore Ali Nasir Rizvi was among the first to respond to the violent protest at the corps commander’s house on Tuesday night.
In his efforts to clear the residence of protesters, DIG Ali Nasir Rizvi was hit the PTI stone-pelters, injuring him seriously. The DIG has his main facial bone fractured, nasal bone also fractured with right eye punctured. There was also a suspected retinal damage prompting fears that the may lose his vision.
After Imran Khan’s arrest on Tuesday, some PTI protesters took out their wrath on the military, torching the residence of the corps commander in Lahore and laying siege to the Army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.
IGP conducts aerial survey of Karachi security, deployment: Inspector General of Police Sindh Ghulam Nabi Memon, along with Additional IG Special Branch, conducted an aerial survey of Karachi areas including Tower, Suhrab Goth, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Dalmia, and Millennium Point, to review security situation.
He reviewed the current law and order situation and security deployment across the city. The protection of life and property of the people and all the important installations in the province are the priorities of the Sindh Police, he said while speaking on the occasion. The IGP said that reserve/anti-rights troops should be deployed district-wise while security measures under random snap-checking and picketing should be strengthened. He said that mutual coordination and information should be followed at the district level. To keep citizens peaceful, the role of religious scholars and the dignitaries of the region should be ensured, said Mr Memon. The IGP Sindh said that citizens should be informed about the importance of peace in the development and prosperity of societies. The people should throw out the miscreants present among them, the IGP concluded.
One PTI worker killed, four injured as protests continue in Balochistan: Like other parts of the province, enraged workers of PTI took to the streets in different areas of Balochistan, including Quetta, against detention of Imran Khan in Islamabad in Al-Qadir Trust Fund scam. One young worker of PTI was killed and four other sustained injuries in a clash between police and protesters on Airport Road, Quetta. Rallies, sit-ins and protest demonstrations continued.
According to reports, one young worker of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was killed and four others sustained injuries after angry protesters clashed with police near the gate of Quetta Cantt on Airport Road, Quetta. Protester set ablaze two police vehicles while several vehicles of citizens were also damaged during the protest.
The body of deceased worker, who had been shot in the head, was shifted to Sandeman Provincial Hospital, Quetta where he was identified as Umer Aziz, 27, resident of Loralai. Four other injured were also taken to SPH, Quetta for treatment.
Similarly, workers of PTI also protested in Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Chaman, Killa Saifullah, Muslim Bagh, Duki, Harnai, Ziarat, Sanjawi and other parts of province, demanding the release of Imran Khan, Chairman, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Main highways, linking Balochistan with other parts of the country, were also blocked by the workers of PTI. Pak-Afghan Highway near Kozak top area of Chaman, a city bordering Afghanistan, was blocked by the workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.country.
