{"id":9219,"date":"2024-11-27T10:46:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T05:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/?p=9219"},"modified":"2024-11-27T10:46:57","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T05:46:57","slug":"following-govt-crackdown-pti-calls-off-islamabad-protest-for-the-time-being","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/asia\/following-govt-crackdown-pti-calls-off-islamabad-protest-for-the-time-being\/","title":{"rendered":"Following govt crackdown, PTI calls off Islamabad protest \u2018for the time being\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The PTI, in the early hours of Wednesday, announced that it was calling off its high-stakes Islamabad protest sit-in \u201cfor the time being\u201d, following a day of clashes<\/a> between security forces and protesters in the city\u2019s Red Zone ended in the party leadership\u2019s hasty retreat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As PTI supporters inched towards the heavily barricaded D-Chowk late on Tuesday, the police and security forces employed intense teargas shelling<\/a> to disperse the protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The late-night retreat by the PTI leadership, including Imran Khan\u2019s wife Bushra Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, came after the latter was heard telling the protesters \u201cto go home, have dinner and return tomorrow\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early hours of Wednesday, a press release<\/a> shared by the party on its official X account read: \u201cIn view of the government\u2019s brutality and the government\u2019s plan to turn the capital into a slaughterhouse for unarmed citizens, [we] announce the suspension of the peaceful protest for the time being.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that future plan of action would be announced \u201cin light of the directions\u201d of its incarcerated founder Imran Khan after the party\u2019s political and core committees presented their \u201canalyses of the state brutality\u201d to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement, issued by the party spokesperson, condemned the alleged \u201ckilling\u201d and \u201cterror and brutality against peaceful protesters in the name of an operation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi to take suo motu notice of the alleged \u201cbrutal murder of martyred [party] workers\u201d and order legal action against the prime minister and interior minister as well as Islamabad and Punjab police chiefs for \u201cattempt to murder\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separately, Bushra Bibi, CM Gandapur and National Assembly Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan will address an \u201cemergency\u201d press conference at 11am today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Taimur Saleem Swati, senior vice president of PTI\u2019s Hazara chapter, said the press conference will be held at the residence of KP Speaker Babar Saleem Swati in Peshawar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> were injured during clashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least six lives were lost in the\u00a0three days<\/a>\u00a0of protests, which included a policeman and three Rangers officials who perished in a\u00a0vehicular accident<\/a>, officials and hospital sources said.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>PTI claims at least 8 dead in shooting at protesters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the statement, the PTI claimed that \u201cdozens\u201d of its workers were shot at directly and killed, of which it said it had the details of eight and listed their purported names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PTI said it was \u201cnot a military or armed party and neither does it consider itself to be willing to have its citizens slaughtered by state murderers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlighting that its supporters cleared \u201call difficulties, obstacles, violence, savage barbarism\u201d to reach D-Chowk but \u201cwould not allow the bodies of its citizens to pile up\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the press release, the PTI had a \u201clong history peaceful political struggle and kept blocking the way of the government plan to pile up bodies since November 24\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party also stated the dates of previous protests since its 2022 ouster where it said it \u201cfailed each of the government\u2019s attempts to drench every peaceful protest in blood\u201d \u2014 three from 2022 and four from 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While calling off the protest, the PTI also reaffirmed its intention to \u201ckeep struggling\u201d for \u201chaqeeqi azadi<\/em>\u201d (actual freedom).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Road to protest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The PTI\u2019s protest, which the government was determined to foil with force, was originally scheduled to be staged on November 24<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the party\u2019s convoys took a breather on Sunday night as PTI leaders said they were in \u201cno hurry<\/a>\u201d to reach the federal capital for their \u2018do or die\u2019 protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PTI protesters, some of them employing industrial fans<\/a> to counter tear gas, crossed Islamabad\u2019s Toll Plaza on Monday night as the government vowed to not spare those behind a cop\u2019s death<\/a> in \u201cviolence of miscreants\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As PTI workers from across the country attempted to defy arrests, baton charges and tear gas to participate in the agitation, around 800 PTI leaders<\/a> and supporters were arrested from across Punjab as well as in and near Islamabad on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an update, capital police officials told Dawn<\/em> that during the ongoing protests, over 500<\/a> local PTI leaders and workers have been arrested in Islamabad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, the Pakistan Army was called into Islamabad to \u201cdeal with miscreants\u201d, state-run Radio Pakistan<\/em> reported<\/a>. Shortly after, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said three Rangers personnel<\/a> and a Punjab policeman lost their lives on Monday, in what he said was an \u201cattack by miscreants\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A stalemate in reported talks<\/a> between the PTI and the government had continued<\/a>, with PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan saying the government had \u201cnot made any contact\u201d with the party and Naqvi similarly ruling out any negotiations with the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ruled that PTI\u2019s planned protest was unlawful<\/a> 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\u2019s arrival<\/a> coincided with the protest.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The PTI, in the early hours of Wednesday, announced that it was calling off its high-stakes Islamabad protest sit-in \u201cfor the time being\u201d, following a day of clashes between security forces and protesters in the city\u2019s Red Zone ended in the party leadership\u2019s hasty retreat. As PTI supporters inched towards the heavily barricaded D-Chowk late on Tuesday, the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":9220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,396,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-latest","category-paksitan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}