Islamabad: The Shehbaz Sharif government on Tuesday deployed the Army in Islamabad along with ‘shoot at sight’ orders after four paramilitary personnel and two policemen were killed in violent clashes between supporters of jailed former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and security forces.
The protesters battled security forces and ignored a government threat to respond with gunfire while marching toward the “red zone”, an area in the centre of the capital where the parliament and other diplomatic buildings are located.
Radio Pakistan said a vehicle ran over security officials, killing four rangers officials, on the Srinagar Highway in Islamabad late on Monday. Five other rangers personnel and several police officials too sustained severe injuries during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protest.
It further stated that a bunch of miscreants, equipped with weapons and ammunition, pelted stones on the rangers personnel and fired indiscriminately on the security personnel at Chungi No 26 in Rawalpindi.
The protest march led by Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and termed as the “final call”, began on Sunday and the situation escalated on Monday night when a PTI rally led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, entered the federal capital for a ‘do-or-die’ protest. Convoys from Hazara, DI Khan, and Balochistan joined Gandapur’s motorcade at the Hakla interchange.
The protestors were seen wearing gas masks and protective goggles in videos circulating on social media platforms. Ambulances and cars were seen turning back from areas along the key Grand Trunk Road highway in Punjab province, where shipping containers were used to block roads. There was also a video of a police post ablaze and several fires on the highway.
One police officer was shot and killed in the clashes while at least 119 others were injured, and 22 police vehicles were torched in clashes just outside Islamabad and elsewhere in the Punjab province, the Guardian reported, quoting provincial police chief Usman Anwar.
Strongly condemning the attack on rangers and police personnel by protesters, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a statement, directed to immediately identify those involved in the incident and ensure they are brought to justice.
The government has sealed off the capital with shipping containers and blocked major roads. The capital also added an extra layer of security with President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko visiting Pakistan.
“We wouldn’t let them storm the capital,” said provincial Information Minister Uzma Bukhari, adding that about 80 of Khan’s supporters had been arrested.
The PTI, on the other hand, has accused the government of using excessive force. “They are even firing live bullets,” one of Khan’s aides, Shaukat Yousafzai, told broadcaster Geo News TV. It also shared several videos and images of injured protesters, claiming that the “government is showering chemicals on protesters from planes.”
Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi had earlier told reporters that protesters could remain on the outskirts of Islamabad and warned of extreme measures if they attempted to enter the city, which could include imposing a curfew or deploying army troops. “We will not let them cross our red lines,” he said.
The PTI founder and former PM, Imran Khan, has been in jail since August 2023 following a conviction in a corruption case. Khan was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in 2022 after he fell out with Pakistan’s powerful military and is facing more than 150 criminal cases, ranging from corruption to instigation of violence, which his supporters claim are politically motivated.
