ISLAMABAD: The whereabouts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur remained a mystery for nearly 48 hours, with even senior government officials exp­ressing ignorance, until his surprise appearance during a sitting of the KP Assembly in Peshawar, on Sunday night.

The provincial chief executive, who had entered the capital along with a contingent of his supporters after breaking through a police cordon near Taxila on Saturday morning, made his way along Margalla Road to the high-security Red Zone the same afternoon.

Upon reaching China Chowk on Jinnah Avenue, the protesters accompanying the KP CM clashed with Islamabad police, police officials told Dawn.

They claimed that teargas, rubber bullets and even live bullets were fired at Islamabad police on the instructions of CM Gandapur.

In an ostensible effort to evade capture, the CM had retired to KP House, which is not too far from the PTI’s nominated protest site at D-Chowk.

Although CCTV footage of him entering KP House and reports of security personnel gathering there to take him into custody swirled on Saturday, no such action could be verified.

Later, it emerged that Mr Gandapur was not in KP House.

This sparked speculation that he may have left the premises or been taken into custody.

However, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi denied this, saying Islamabad police were looking for him CCTV footage of a man in a turban similar to that worn by the CM Gandapur circulated on social media before it was pointed out that the man pictured leaving the premises was not the KP CM, rather a member of his provincial cabinet.

On Sunday, the Islamabad police chief reiterated that CM Gandapur was not in their or any other law enforcement agency’s custody.

This response raised questions about the effectiveness of the Safe City Project, which keeps a watchful eye on the capital through more than 3,000 CCTV cameras.

However, an official justified the lack of leads, saying that currently only 29pc of the capital is covered by Safe City cameras, which were mainly installed on main highways and thoroughfares.

Police said further raids carried out at suspected hideouts also did not yield any sign of the KP CM, and sources suggested that he may have left Islamabad in a private vehicle at some point over the weekend.

This is the second time in recent months that CM Gandapur has “gone missing” after making his way to Islamabad.

The CM had remained incommunicado for several hours around a month ago, when a number of PTI lawmakers were picked up from the National Asse­mbly premises following an incendiary public meeting in Sangjani, on the outskirts of Islamabad.

At that time as well, rumours had swirled, with some speculating that he may be holed up in a “safe house”, while government ministers claimed that he had gone missing of his own free will.

Talking to Dawn, Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said that an incumbent CM of a province “going missing” was itself a “very serious” issue and raised question on the credibility of the state and the government.

“No doubt Mr Gandapur has committed a serious offence by attacking the capital, for which a case should have been registered against him, but does it mean that he could be detained in a such a manner,” he wondered.

He said it was the responsibility of the government to find the chief minister, but did not rule out the possibility that he may have gone somewhere of his own accord.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2024