Imran Khan's party suspends protest in Islamabad after midnight crackdown

JAILED former prime minister Imran Khan's party on Wednesday formally suspended its protest for the time being blaming the midnight crackdown by the authorities that left at least four dead and over 50 injured.

Amid concerns about the whereabouts of Khan's wife Bushra Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur – who were leading the march to Islamabad – the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said they were at Mansehra town, near Abbotabad, of the northwestern province.

Authorities began reopening roads and cleaning all major thoroughfares vandalised during the three-day protest by Khan's party.

The midnight crackdown forced Khan's supporters to evacuate the D-Chowk and its adjacent main business district of the capital ending their protest, which his party described as a “massacre” under the “fascist military regime”, even as police sources said about 450 protestors were arrested in the crackdown.

“In view of the government’s brutality and the government’s plan to turn the capital into a slaughterhouse for unarmed citizens, (we) announce the suspension of the peaceful protest for the time being,” PTI said in a press release shared on its official X account.

Future plans would be announced “in light of directions” from Khan after the party’s political and core committees presented their “analyses of the state brutality” to him.

The party statement also condemned the alleged “killing” and “terror and brutality against peaceful protesters in the name of an operation”.

The PTI urged the chief justice to take suo motu notice of the alleged “brutal murder of martyred (party) workers” and order legal action against the prime minister, interior minister and police chiefs of Islamabad and Punjab for “attempt to murder.”

Earlier on Tuesday evening, PTI supporters battled law enforcing agencies and succeeded in reaching the D-Chowk for a sit-in as part of their protest march that started on Sunday.

The supporters' clash with police killed at least six security personnel and injured dozens since Monday midnight.

Bushra Bibi and Gandapur had announced that the protesters would not go away until Khan, who had given the 'final call' for protest, was released from jail even as security personnel continued their efforts to move them from the D-Chowk, which is located close to several important government buildings: the Presidency, the PM Office, the Parliament, and the Supreme Court.

Ppolice and Rangers launched an operation early Wednesday to clear the Blue Area business area, forcing the protesters to move away along with Bibi and Gandapur.

Senior PTI leader Taimur Saleem Khan told the media that Bibi and Gandapur were accompanied by the party's National Assembly opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan and that they were staying at the residence of the province's Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati's residence in the Mansehra town of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The 72-year-old former premier, who has been in jail since August last year, issued a 'final call' on November 13 for nationwide protests on November 24, denouncing what he termed as the stolen mandate, the unjust arrests of people and the passage of the 26th amendment, which he said has strengthened a “dictatorial regime”.

The midnight clashes with the security personnel left at least four dead.

Two bodies and 26 injured individuals - with gunshot wounds - were received at the Polyclinic Hospital in Islamabad, officials said while, separately, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, told Geo News that they received two dead bodies and 28 injured after the protest.

Earlier, PTI, in a reaction to the midnight crackdown, blamed the government for using violence and killing hundreds of its workers.

Meanwhile, life was turning to normal in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi as Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Memon directed all assistant commissioners to ensure the immediate reopening of all closed routes across the city. (PTI)