• Minister claims Murad Saeed masterminded Nov 24 march
• Interior ministry says security officials were deployed without live ammunition
• KP spox dismisses Centre’s allegations as ‘ridiculous’, ‘non-serious’

ISLAMABAD: The government on Sunday refuted PTI claims that several of its workers were killed during the Nov 25 protest in Islamabad, claiming that no demonstrator was shot by security personnel.

Officials claimed that the government had allowed the PTI rally — led by Bushra Bibi, wife of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, and Khyber Pakhtun­khwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur — to proceed to Express Chowk, on the edge of the Red Zone, to avoid bloodshed.

“No security personnel carried live ammunition on the day of the protest,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed during a press conference in Islamabad.

The minister — flanked by Interior Secretary Khurram Ali Agha, Islamabad Chief Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa, and Islamabad Inspector General of Police Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi — accused PTI of disseminating fake images and videos on social media to falsely claim that its workers were killed.

He insisted that no protester was killed by law enforcement; instead, four security officials, including three Rangers and a policeman, lost their lives in the violence. Mr Tarar also claimed that 190 security personnel were injured, many from stone pelting and slingshots, but also from gunfire allegedly by protesters.

Mr Tarar alleged that fugitive PTI leader Murad Saeed, a former federal minister, was hiding in the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar, where he masterminded last week’s violent protest and prepared a plan to kill security personnel.

‘1,500 hardcore fighters’

Meanwhile, the interior ministry reiterated on Sunday that despite the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declaring PTI’s Nov 24 rally “unlawful”, PTI breached the Red Zone, rejecting the government’s offer to hold the protest at the designated Sangjani venue.

In an official statement, the ministry accused the party of engaging armed forces aggressively and orchestrating the protest using KP government resources.

On Nov 13, Imran Khan issued a “final call” for nationwide protests on Nov 24, 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”.

In the early hours of Wednesday, a day of pitched battles between security forces and PTI protesters across the federal capital ended in a hasty retreat of the party’s top leadership and supporters from the Red Zone.

The interior ministry alleged in the statement that the PTI protest included hundreds of “trained miscreants”, including Afghan nationals, who spearheaded the violence. “These miscreants, employed as a violent vanguard, comprised approximately 1,500 hardcore fighters working directly under absconder and proclaimed offender Murad Saeed,” it said.

It said the army was deployed in the capital under Article 245 of the Constitution “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”.

“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,” the interior ministry said, adding that the PTI leadership, instead of controlling the violent mob, fled from the scene.

‘Fake propaganda of deaths’

The interior ministry accused PTI of launching a “planned and coordinated massive fake propaganda of deaths caused by LEAs so as to divert attention from this senseless, violent and failed activity”.

Major hospitals in Islamabad “rubbished reports” of alleged casualties caused by security officials, but a “sustained fabricated social media campaign, using old and AI-generated clips, was 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,” the ministry said, adding that “PTI and its social media propagandists” were bent on creating divisions and confusion within the society.

“Such elements, whether inside the country or abroad, will surely be held accountable under relevant laws, and no one will be allowed to sow divisions, hatred and propagating fake news,” it said.

The interior ministry blasted KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur for making “baseless inflammatory statements against institutions, using KP Assembly as a platform to distort facts and spread blatant lies, rather than being shameful of inciting innocent youth of KP for such undesirable activities”.

The ministry claimed that 39 lethal weapons, including 18 automatic weapons, were recovered from the violent protesters and that among the apprehended offenders, there were more than three dozen paid foreign nationals.

With regards to material losses incurred during the violent protests, the ministry said initial estimates suggested damages to the tune of hundreds of millions. “Due to these violent protests, indirect losses to the economy are estimated to be Rs192 billion per day,” it added.

KP govt rejects allegations

The KP government on Sunday dismissed as “ridiculous” new allegations by the federal government about Murad Saeed’s hiding in the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar. KP’s Adviser on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif offered to provide a “free tour” of the premises to prove the claims false.

“This is ridiculous, to say the least,” Barrister Saif told Dawn when asked about Mr Tarar’s claims regarding Mr Saeed’s presence in CM House in Peshawar. “This is such a non-serious statement,” he argued.

“Why didn’t the federal government arrest Murad Saeed if they knew he was in Islamabad leading the march?” he asked. “How come that Murad Saeed fled, breaking through such a huge deployment of police and Rangers?”

Barrister Saif accused the federal government of shifting its stance. “Initially, they congratulated everyone on what they claimed was PTI’s failure to organise a large-scale march. But later, they deployed a massive force to prevent the protest from reaching Islamabad,” he said.

He also accused the federal government of covering up the deaths and blaming Afghans for the violence, which he said would further strain relations with Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2024