The PTI, in the early hours of Wednesday, announced that it was calling off its high-stakes Islamabad protest sit-in “for the time being”, following a day of clashes between security forces and protesters in the city’s Red Zone ended in the party leadership’s hasty retreat.

As PTI supporters inched towards the heavily barricaded D-Chowk late on Tuesday, the police and security forces employed intense teargas shelling to disperse the protesters.

The late-night retreat by the PTI leadership, including Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, came after the latter was heard telling the protesters “to go home, have dinner and return tomorrow”.

In the early hours of Wednesday, a press release shared by the party on its official X account read: “In view of the government’s brutality and the government’s plan to turn the capital into a slaughterhouse for unarmed citizens, [we] announce the suspension of the peaceful protest for the time being.”

It added that future plan of action would be announced “in light of the directions” of its incarcerated founder Imran Khan after the party’s political and core committees presented their “analyses of the state brutality” to him.

The statement, issued by the party spokesperson, condemned the alleged “killing” and “terror and brutality against peaceful protesters in the name of an operation”.

The party appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi to take suo motu notice of the alleged “brutal murder of martyred [party] workers” and order legal action against the prime minister and interior minister as well as Islamabad and Punjab police chiefs for “attempt to murder”.

Separately, Bushra Bibi, CM Gandapur and National Assembly Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan will address an “emergency” press conference at 11am today. The media briefing is yet to take place.

In a statement, Taimur Saleem Swati, senior vice president of PTI’s Hazara chapter, said the press conference will be held at the residence of KP Speaker Babar Saleem Swati in Peshawar.

“We will chalk out the new strategy later after proper consultation, Mohammad Asim, PTI’s Peshawar president, told Reuters. He said that Bushra Bibi as well as CM Gandapur had returned “safely” to KP from Islamabad.

Meanwhile, data services, after remaining suspended for four days, were restored in various areas of Islamabad — including Red Zone and Bani Gala — as well as Rawalpindi, Dawn.com correspondents reported.

The internet services were “restored at 7am”, PTA Chairman (retired) Major General Hafee­zur Rehman confirmed to Dawn.com.

On Wednesday morning, city workers were cleaning up debris and clearing some of the shipping containers that had blocked roads around the capital.

The heavily fortified red zone was empty of protesters but several of their vehicles were left behind, including the remains of a truck from which Bushra Bibi had been leading the protests that appeared charred by flames, according to Reuters witnesses.

As PTI supporters faced off with security personnel across the federal capital on Tuesday, with both sides using tear gas and rubber bullets, at least two were killed and over 60 were injured during clashes.

The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) confirmed the death of two civilians and injuries to around 60 persons, including security personnel. At least three injured policemen and 10 civilians were also shifted to Polyclinic for treatment.

At least six lives were lost in the three days of protests, which included a policeman and three Rangers officials who perished in a vehicular accident, officials and hospital sources said.

PTI claims at least 8 dead in shooting at protesters

In the statement, the PTI claimed that “dozens” of its workers were shot at directly and killed, of which it said it had the details of eight and listed their purported names.

The PTI said it was “not a military or armed party and neither does it consider itself to be willing to have its citizens slaughtered by state murderers”.

Highlighting that its supporters cleared “all difficulties, obstacles, violence, savage barbarism” to reach D-Chowk but “would not allow the bodies of its citizens to pile up”.

According to the press release, the PTI had a “long history peaceful political struggle and kept blocking the way of the government plan to pile up bodies since November 24”.

The party also stated the dates of previous protests since its 2022 ouster where it said it “failed each of the government’s attempts to drench every peaceful protest in blood” — three from 2022 and four from 2023.

While calling off the protest, the PTI also reaffirmed its intention to “keep struggling” for “haqeeqi azadi” (actual freedom).

The PTI paid tribute to citizens and its workers for coming to Islamabad from all across the country for the protest, as well as overseas Pakistanis who heeded its call for global protests. It further said it was immensely grateful to the residents of Islamabad and Rawalpindi for the hospitality they offered to the party convoys.

In a separate post earlier today, the PTI said a “massacre has unfolded in Pakistan at the hands of security forces”.

It accused the armed security forces of launching a “violent assault on peaceful PTI protesters in Islamabad, firing live rounds with the intent to kill as many people as possible”. It went on to compare last night’s clashes to the violence in East Pakistan in 1971.

“The rulers have learned nothing from history and are prepared to destroy the country to cling to their illegitimate power,” the post went on to say. “With hundreds dead and countless injured, the interior minister’s threat to kill and then the declaration of ‘victory’ over slaughtered innocents is enough evidence of the regime’s inhumanity.”

PTI called on the international community to condemn the “atrocity and the erosion of democracy and humanity in Pakistan”, as well as take action against it.

Road to protest

The PTI’s protest, which the government was determined to foil with force, was originally scheduled to be staged on November 24.

However, the party’s convoys took a breather on Sunday night as PTI leaders said they were in “no hurry” to reach the federal capital for their ‘do or die’ protest.

The PTI protesters, some of them employing industrial fans to counter tear gas, crossed Islamabad’s Toll Plaza on Monday night as the government vowed to not spare those behind a cop’s death in “violence of miscreants”.

As PTI workers from across the country attempted to defy arrests, baton charges and tear gas to participate in the agitation, around 800 PTI leaders and supporters were arrested from across Punjab as well as in and near Islamabad on Sunday.

In an update, capital police officials told Dawn that during the ongoing protests, over 500 local PTI leaders and workers have been arrested in Islamabad.

On Tuesday, the Pakistan Army was called into Islamabad to “deal with miscreants”, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. Shortly after, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said three Rangers personnel and a Punjab policeman lost their lives on Monday, in what he said was an “attack by miscreants”.

A stalemate in reported talks between the PTI and the government had continued, with PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan saying the government had “not made any contact” with the party and Naqvi similarly ruling out any negotiations with the party.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ruled that PTI’s planned protest was unlawful and had directed the government to take all necessary measures to maintain law and order in Islamabad without disrupting public life, particularly as the Belarusian president’s arrival coincided with the protest.

More to follow

Additional input from Reuters