Pakistan government says security personnel deployed 'without live ammunition' during protest by Imran Khan's party

Islamabad: Pakistan's interior ministry Sunday dismissed allegations of killings by forces during a violent protest by Imran Khan's supporters last week, saying the security personnel were deployed "without live ammunition" to disperse the crowd.

Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) launched a protest on November 24 to give a sit-in at D-Chowk in Islamabad's Red Zone, where most government buildings are located. The party claimed that its several supporters were killed due to the alleged firing by the security forces on Tuesday night.

The interior minister issued a detailed statement regarding the protest, rejecting the PTI's assertions regarding the killings of its workers.

"LEAs (law enforcing agencies) comprising police and rangers were employed without live ammunition to disperse this violent mob while the army neither came in direct clash with these miscreants nor employed for riot control," it said.

The statement said that during this process, the armed guards of the protesting leaders and the armed miscreants resorted to indiscriminate firing while the PTI leadership fled from the area.

It said once the area had been cleared from the violent protestors and miscreants, a site media visit was also promptly undertaken by the Information Minister and Interior Minister followed by the press talks.

It alleged that the social media accounts of PTI resorted to planned and coordinated massive fake propaganda of deaths caused by law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to divert attention from this senseless, violent and failed activity.

"The major hospitals of the capital city after due diligence rubbished reports of alleged gunshot casualties inflicted by LEAs. However, a sustained fabricated social media campaign, using old and AI-generated clips is being viciously undertaken by PTI and joined by other inimical elements. There have been multiple false claims of deaths ranging from tens to hundreds to thousands on social media as well as PTI political leadership and their official pages,” it said.

The statement said that the Islamabad High Court on November 21 directed the government to take all necessary measures to maintain law and order in the capital.

Following the court directives, Khan's party was initially asked to postpone the protest but on their persistence to continue with the protest, it was subsequently offered Sangjani area as a designated location.

The meetings were also allowed between PTI leadership and its founder, it said, adding that despite the extraordinary concessions extended, Khan's party violated the court’s orders blatantly and unlawfully breached entry towards the Red Zone.

It said that throughout the protest march from Peshawar to Islamabad, violent protestors of PTI aggressively engaged law enforcement agencies repeatedly using firearms and all sorts of other weaponry including stun grenades, tear gas shells and nail-studded batons.

The statement alleged that the protestors were supported by the resources of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and also the protest included violent and trained miscreant elements including many illegal Afghan nationals who spearheaded the riots and violent activities throughout the march.

It claimed that these miscreants, employed as the violent vanguard, comprised approximately 1,500 hard-core fighters working directly under Murad Saeed, a PTI leader who has been declared by the courts as an absconder and proclaimed offender.

This vanguard group, using militant tactics violently attacked the LEAs and breached the blocks with the help of government machinery paving the way for the second wave of vehicles and protestors to cross and despite sustaining grievous injuries, security personnel exhibited a high degree of restraint against these violent protesters.

It mentioned that a vehicle also ran over Rangers personnel, resulting in the death of three Rangers and critical injuries to five. During the violent protest, one policeman was killed and 232 LEAs personnel were injured.

This violent mob not only attacked security forces but also set multiple police vehicles on fire, showcased firearms, damaged properties and created terror among the common citizens, the statement said.

It said that the Pakistan Army was deployed in Islamabad only to secure key government installations and foreign diplomats in the sensitive Red Zone while ensuring a secure environment for high-profile foreign dignitaries visiting the country.

The notification blasted KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur for making “baseless inflammatory statements against institutions, using provincial assembly platform to distort facts and spread blatant lies".

It is concerning to note that 39 lethal weapons, including 18 automatic weapons, have been recovered from the violent protesters and that amongst the apprehended offenders there are more than three dozen paid aliens, the notification said.

"Due to these violent protests, indirect losses to the economy are estimated to be Rs 192 billion per day,” it said, adding that significant expenditure was incurred on taking necessary security measures.

The protest was promoted by Khan who on November 13 issued a “final call” for nationwide protests, demanding the restoration of the PTI’s electoral mandate, the release of detained party members, and the reversal of the 26th Amendment, which he said had strengthened a “dictatorial regime”.

Information Minister Atta Tarar on Sunday challenged Khan's party "to show me video evidence of state law enforcement agencies (LEAs) firing on the protesters”.

“If there was live ammunition, it was used by these people (protesters), they fired blindly, there’s video footage of them,” he said.