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The situation in Islamabad continued to remain tensed on Saturday, a day after violent clashes between PTI supporters and the police, while the party decided to go ahead with its Lahore protest amid blockades and high security.
Life in the capital and adjacent Rawalpindi remained disturbed for a second consecutive day with mobile network services suspended and major roads and entry points still blocked by containers.
Hundreds of PTI activists, including senior leaders, had gathered at multiple locations in Islamabad on Friday — defying heavy police blockades and road closures — for its planned protest at D-Chowk despite Section 144 in force.
Resultantly, Islamabad Police rounded up over 100 PTI members and supporters as violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement officials were reported throughout the day, with several instances of stone-pelting and tear gas exchanges being witnessed.
According to a Dawn.com correspondent in Islamabad, the major and link roads between the twin cities and entry points connecting from Motorway M1, M2 and Grand Trunk Road were still blocked by containers on Saturday.
He added that except for PTCL and Nayatel broadband services, all other mobile and internet services were down, causing major issues for the local residents. Schools were also closed in both cities for a second day.
PTI to continue Islamabad protest
Separately, the PTI procession coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — led by KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur — was likely to reach Bus Stop 26 on Srinagar highway as it had crossed the Barhama interchange. Authorities had dug trenches and placed iron nails on a stretch of the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway to prevent the caravan from reaching the capital.
PTI leaders have voiced their determination to continue the Islamabad protest, which had been called by their incarcerated party founder Imran Khan.
Nawaz Mehmood, PTI KP chapter’s deputy general secretary who was present with protesters at Jinnah Avenue, told Dawn.com that their protest would continue and soon CM Gandapur would join them. He added that they would then move towards D-Chowk to register their peaceful protest for the release of Imran and his fellow party leaders.
He urged party workers to avoid damaging public property, claiming that he saw plain-clothed people from security agencies trying to do the same to “repeat May 9” incidents.
“I request the building owners of Blue Area to not allow police deployment at their building rooftops as they are supposed to use teargas against PTI’s peaceful protesters,” he said.
PTI senior leader Hammad Azhar also said in a post on X that the Islamabad protest would continue and called for protest rallies to be held across Punjab.
KP government spokesperson Barrister Mohammad Saif said the PTI procession, along with CM Gandapur spent the night on the motorway and started moving early in the morning for D-Chowk. He added they would reach the No. 26 at Srinagar Highway at 1pm as “containers that the government installed on the motorway were being removed”.
120 Afghan nationals arrested during PTI clashes: Naqvi
Interior minister Naqvi said on Saturday that a total of 120 Afghan nationals were arrested in the past 48 hours, with 41 of them “caught” in yesterday’s clashes between the PTI and the Islamabad police.
Speaking to the media in Islamabad today, Naqvi said: “Forty-one Afghan nationals were caught in yesterday’s clashes and a total of 120 Afghan nationals in the previous 48 hours, which is alarming […] a country’s own public protesting is a separate thing.”
He further said that the capital police were fired at near Pathargarh, where he said CM Gandapur’s caravan passed through.
“They were firing tear gas. How did they get so much tear gas?” the interior minister wondered, adding that “80 to 85 policemen” were injured as a result and were undergoing treatment.
Naqvi said there was “evidence of chats and groups” where people from “Bannu and tribal areas were being told to bring guns and weapons”.
Stating that he was in contact with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Naqvi asserted that the government would not allow the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Islamabad to be “sabotaged”.
“Now we have an idea of their motives. The [PTI] leadership who ordered this is responsible. The KP CM is practically implementing this and is responsible as he is leading the protest,” Naqvi said, referring to PTI’s Gandapur.
Punjab deploys army, grants permission to use firearms to ‘maintain law and order’
Meanwhile, as the PTI plans to hold a protest at Lahore’s Minar-i-Pakistan, the Punjab government issued orders for army troops to be deployed, allowing it to take certain measures to “maintain law and order”.
The PTI has called its planned protest — to demand a cut in inflation, independence of judiciary and Imran’s release — a “do or die”, despite all entry and exit points of Lahore being heavily barricaded amid a ban on rallies under Section 144.
The Punjab home department issued orders for the “requisition/ deployment of troops of Pakistan Army in aid of civil power for maintaining law and order situation” in the province.
Its notification issued on Saturday, seen by Dawn.com, set the Rules of Engagement (ROEs) for the army.
It specified that the armed forces, civil armed forces and police would be deployed “around the airbase/ airport, routes, venues, accommodation, etc, falling within the territorial jurisdiction” of Punjab to maintain law and order as well as provide security to foreign delegates during the upcoming SCO summit.
Under the ROEs, the armed forces would be “allowed to take such measures as warranted by the situation, including using of firearms”.
“Exact contours of deployment of armed forces will be determined by the military commander on ground in consultation with police commander,” the notification read.
The ROEs enable the local commander to employ certain measures in the event they are “preempted to get any information of any threat or are attacked or threatened by hostile elements”.
In the absence of local police authorities, the rules allow the armed forces to “detain any person who commits or threatens to commit a crime”.
The rules include “show of force, including the use of Riot Control Agents (RCAs)”; “warning shot may be fired over the heads of hostile elements”; that a “hostile fire should be returned effectively and promptly to stop hostile act”; and “unrestricted use of electronic monitoring as deemed appropriate by local commander”.
“Use of minimum force under the circumstances and proportionate to threat, however, no rule/ legal procedure limits one’s right to take appropriate action to defend himself and the infrastructure/ entities entrusted to him,” one of the rules read.
More to follow
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