Over 900 detained after Pakistan protests for Imran Khan release

Pakistani authorities arrested nearly 1,000 supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan who stormed the capital this week to demand his release, the city’s police chief said on Wednesday.

Khan’s aides alleged hundreds had suffered gunshot wounds during chaotic scenes overnight in the heart of Islamabad as police dispersed protesters led by Khan’s wife who had broken through security barricades, without immediately providing evidence. They also said thousands were arrested.

Islamabad’s police chief, Ali Rizvi, denied that live ammunition had been used during the operation, which he said was conducted alongside paramilitary forces.

Rizvi said 600 protesters were arrested in Tuesday’s operation, bringing the total over the last three days to 954.

He said weapons, including automatic rifles and tear gas guns, were seized from the protest site, where thousands had gathered, which was cleared in a matter of hours.

Ali Amin Gandapur, a top Khan aide and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province who was a part of the protests and fled the site when the operation began, accused the authorities of using excessive force against what he said were peaceful protesters.

He said “hundreds” had sustained bullet wounds.

Pakistan’s information minister and an Islamabad police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on the allegation that hundreds had been shot by security forces.

“Both Imran Khan’s wife and I were attacked directly,” Gandapur told a press conference in the city of Mansehra, located in the province he rules and about 130 km (80 miles) from Islamabad.

Khan’s wife Bushra Khan, who was leading thousands of protesters, escaped unhurt. Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had said she would be addressing the press conference with Gandapur, but she did not appear despite the event being delayed by hours.

Zulfikar Bukhari, a spokesman for PTI said earlier that the sit-in protest seeking Khan’s release had been called off, citing what he called “the massacre”. But Gandapur said the protest would continue until Khan himself called it off.

Six killed in earlier clashes

At least six people, including four paramilitary soldiers and two protesters, had been killed in the protests, which began on Sunday, before the overnight clashes.

Visiting protest sites on Wednesday, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies had successfully cleared protesters from the site of the sit-in and other areas of the capital.

He called on PTI to provide any evidence of the firing of live ammunition by security forces, and said it had not provided any details of deaths of its supporters.

Geo News and broadcaster ARY both said security forces had raided the site in pitch-dark in central Islamabad, where lights had been turned off and a barrage of tear gas was fired.

The protesters were almost completely dispersed, they added.

On Wednesday, city workers were clearing debris and moving away some of the shipping containers authorities had used to block roads around the capital.

The red zone, the fortified area that is home to parliament, the diplomatic enclave and other key buildings, was empty of protesters, but several of their vehicles were left behind, including the remains of a truck used by Bushra Khan that appeared charred by flames, Reuters witnesses said.

The PTI had planned on staging a sit-in in the red zone until the release of Khan, who has been in jail since August last year.

Pakistan’s benchmark share index jumped more than 5.21 percent in intraday trade on Wednesday, recovering Tuesday’s losses when it closed down 3.6 percent on the news of political clashes.

The sharp market rebound was fuelled by hopes of political stability restoring investor confidence, said Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Limited. 

(Reuters)