ISLAMABAD, Oct 6: The situation remained tense in Pakistan’s capital on Sunday as jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party vowed to continue its protest against the government, a day after violent clashes between security forces and his supporters that left one policeman dead and several others injured.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party, in an overnight meeting, decided that the demonstration would go on until the release of Khan, who has been in jail since August last year.
The situation in Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi, which witnessed the violent clashes on Saturday remained tense. However, there were no reports of violence in the twin cities on Sunday, indicating that the situation was improving gradually.
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The mobile phone services have also been restored in the two cities which had been suspended on Friday.
Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who is also the protest leader, remained unknown.
The party and family members were unable to make any contact with him from Saturday evening, said his government spokesman Muhammad Ali Saif.
Saif on Saturday first claimed that Gandapur was “arrested”, but later in a post on X said that the “KP CM has not been formally arrested”.
The political committee of PTI decided that if Gandapur was arrested, senior party leader Azam Swati would lead the protest. If Swati is arrested, a new leader will be chosen to take command, according to the Dawn newspaper.
The political committee also criticised the disappearance of Gandapur. The committee warned that there would be ‘serious repercussions’ if he was arrested.
Former National Assembly speaker and senior PTI leader Asad Qaiser told the Dawn newspaper that PTI’s political committee decided to continue the protest as long as it gets a clear directive from Khan to end the protest.
“It was also decided that Azam Swati will lead the protest if Gandapur is arrested.”
However, he warned, arresting a sitting chief minister would be disastrous for the country and there would be serious repercussions.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Gandapur was not in police custody, deepening the mystery behind his disappearance.
“I confirm that he is not in the custody of the government or any other institution of the government,” he said.
The minister said that the police were looking for Gandapur who had been hiding at some unknown place.
“Police have also raided a few places but could not find him,” he said, adding that he received pictures of Gandapur escaping from the KP House before the arrival of police and other law enforcement agencies.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly announced that it will convene its session on Sunday to discuss the issue of his disappearance.
Naqvi also announced that 564 protestors, including 11 plainclothes personnel from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police, have been arrested during the protests.
He said it was the first instance when police have been used in such demonstrations. He also said that among those arrested were 120 Afghan nationals.
Naqvi said he had ordered a high-level inquiry into how a provincial police force was involved in the protests and “attacked [other] police officers”.
He said 31 Islamabad police and 75 Punjab police personnel were injured in Saturday’s clashes.
In Lahore, around 30 supporters of Khan’s party, including lawyers, were arrested after they managed to reach historic Minar-e-Pakistan premises demanding the release of their leader, police said on Sunday.
More than 200 PTI workers, including Khan, have been booked under terrorism charges, they added.
Earlier, in an embarrassment to the government, a large number of PTI protesters managed to reach Islamabad by overcoming multiple barriers.
Naqvi claimed that the PTI had a plan to stage a sit-in until the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. (PTI)
