Police teargas, arrest PTI activists
islamabad — Police clashed with opposition party supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday, arresting dozens ahead of a planned protest by cricketer-turnedpolitician Imran Khan aimed at unseating the government.
Police charged stone-throwing protesters with batons and fired tear gas at the supporters, who had come out on the streets of Islamabad’s twin-city to demonstrate against arrests made the previous night after authorities banned all public gatherings in the capital for two months.
Municipal workers, meanwhile, used shipping containers to block major roads leading from Rawalpindi to Islamabad, where Imran has vowed to lead a demonstration on November 2 to demand Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif step down over revelations made in the Panama Papers that his family have offshore bank accounts.
The exact number of arrests could not be confirmed, but a spokesman for Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (Movement for Justice) said 43 workers arrested on Thursday night were still in detention while others had been released.
A heavy contingent of police meanwhile surrounded Imran’s house in Banni Gala, a leafy suburb of Islamabad, preventing him from leaving — though he has not been formally arrested.
Dozens of Imran’s supporters also gathered around the house, chanting anti-government slogans calling for Sharif to resign.
Sharif is under growing pressure from opposition parties over his children’s offshore bank accounts that were revealed in the Panama Papers leak.
“This will be a decisive and historic gathering, people will come together with resolve to hold the prime minister accountable,” Imran told reporters.
The protests have added to the chaos ahead of Imran’s plans to lock down the capital on Wednesday in what he described as a final push to force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign over corruption allegations.
Imran had vowed to join Friday’s planned rally but had not left his home, with a heavy police presence outside, by the afternoon and was scheduled to hold a Press briefing.
Authorities on Thursday swooped on an indoor youth rally by Imran’s party in Islamabad, beating activists with batons and detaining 38 people.
Police said the rally contravened a city order issued hours earlier to ban all public gatherings in the capital ahead of next week’s protests.
“Police manhandled our women and our boys. Because of that, Imran Khan has called for nationwide protests,” a spokeswoman from PTI’s media team said.
Imran, who led a weeks-long occupation that paralysed the government quarter of Islamabad in 2014 after rejecting Sharif ’s decisive election win, has vowed to contest orders banning public gatherings in court but has hinted his supporters would march on the capital next week regardless.
A top administrative official in Rawalpindi has also banned protests in the city.
Imran had been due to attend a rally for a political ally, Sheikh Rashid of the Awami Muslim League (AML), on Friday afternoon in Rawalpindi.
TV footage showed the portly AML leader being ferried to the rally on the back of a motorbike via the back-streets of Rawalpindi. He then climbed on top of a van, shook his fist in the air to supporters and dared police to arrest him.
Police have told media they do not have orders for his arrest.
Earlier in the day, officials appeared to be resolute that the ban on public gatherings will be enforced, setting PTI on a collision course with authorities.
“It is not legal to hold a gathering (in Rawalpindi) right now, so we will try to stop (Khan) if he tries to go there,” said Mushtaq Ahmed, the top administrative official in Islamabad.
Imran has warned officials that arresting him would only enrage his supporters and bolster his party’s resolve to lock down Islamabad.
Authorities blocked main roads leading to the Rawalpindi rally with shipping containers. The rally site also was obstructed by trucks and containers, blocking PTI supporters from gathering en masse.
Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Ahmed said PTI would need a permission in the form of a “No Objection Certificate” (NOC) if it plans to host any events, including Wednesday’s shutdown strike. “You need an NOC for anything — whether its a media function or a marriage function. Even for a birthday party of more than five people, you need an NOC,” he said. — AFP, Reuters
It is not legal to hold a gathering (in rawalpindi) right now, so we will try to stop (Khan) if he tries to go there
Mushtaq Ahmed, a top official of the Islamabad administration
LHC bars police from detaining PTI workers
Police manhandled our women and our boys. because of that, Imran Khan has called for nationwide protests
A PTI media team spokeswoman
ISLAMABAD — The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday directed the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration to stop arresting Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf’s (PTI) workers and also produce a list of all the detained persons on October 31.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui heard the case filed by the PTI through their counsel Niazullah Niazi against the arrests.
During the proceeding, Justice Siddiqui asked the PTI representatives if their party would hold a peaceful protest or planning to lock down the federal capital?
He further asked, “will the PTI comply the court directives?
The court observed that it knew well how to ensure the implementation of court’s orders.