ISLAMABAD: The law enforcement agencies deployed to control Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protesters led by Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtonkhwa Pervez Khattak from marching into Islamabad resorted to heavy shelling and tear gas, forcing demonstrators to return to their base-camp in Swabi.
Read: Imran vows to lead ‘Nov 2’ protest from the front
Khattak led the protesters to Burhan Interchange late on Monday night, and asked the activists to stay intact. However, police strongly resisted their movement and fired shells to prevent them proceeding further.
1. Given brutal use of tear gas by Punjab police, I asked Parvez Khattak to retreat to Swabi, regroup, rest, get reinforcements
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 1, 2016
Following strong resistance by the police, PTI chairman Imran Khan asked his party workers to retreat to Swabi
PTI leader Shah Farman said all the workers would again return with ‘full force’.
2. Before resuming mission to get to Bani Gala by afternoon. I salute P Khattak & PTI KP for their courage, resilience & sheer guts.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 1, 2016
The caravan eventually returned to Swabi base-camp from Burhan Interchange due to heavy shelling by the police. Earlier, the protesters were stopped at Haroonabad bridge, but they managed to reach the Motorway Interchange by removing all obstacles.
Talking to ARY News, Khattak said that he has crossed Burhan but it took him four hours to overcome obstacles put by the administration on its way to Burhan.
3. They confronted Punjab police’s brutality and use of lethal expired tear gas.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) November 1, 2016
The KP CM accused the Punjab government of resorting to illegal means to restrict citizens’ movement within their own country.
“Are we to take visa from them,” asked Khattak.
Police resorted to tear gas shelling at hundreds of PTI workers led by Khattak as they tried to cross the Haroonabad Bridge in a bid to enter Punjab from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa earlier in the day.
It was the latest confrontation before a planned lockdown of the capital on Wednesday by the PTI. It is seeking Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation over his children’s offshore bank accounts, revealed in the Panama Papers leak.
Hundreds of PTI workers from across the country have been arrested including in the capital, where a ban on protests was invoked last week.
The Islamabad High Court on Monday partly lifted the order, saying the opposition had the right to demonstrate but could not disrupt citizens’ daily lives.
Authorities in the central province of Punjab have also closed a motorway using shipping containers, as police and paramilitary forces stand guard around the highway.
Addressing supporters from his Bani Gala residence in Islamabad, Khan vowed a million of his supporters would reach the capital on November 2 and force Sharif from power.
“One million people will come out in Islamabad day after tomorrow. The whole of Pakistan is watching to see whether these police whose salaries are paid by us are really police or the personal guards of the Sharif family,” he said.
