• Gandapur, Bushra-led caravan remains in KP overnight as gatherings in Punjab thwarted
• Asad Qaiser says PTI ‘in no hurry’ as Islamabad still ‘a day or two away’
• Around 800 PTI leaders, supporters arrested from across Punjab, in and around capital
• Internet, social media disrupted; cellular services ‘kept on to trace protesters’

ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: PTI leaders said on Sunday they were in “no hurry” to reach the federal capital for their ‘do or die’ protest, as workers and supporters from across the country attempted to defy arrests, baton charge and tear gas to participate in the agitation.

The protesters, coming mainly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were still quite away from Islamabad until late Sunday night. The party and police officials expect the caravan of supporters from KP to enter the federal capital by Tuesday or Wednesday.

In Punjab and Islamabad, PTI leaders failed to mobilise the workers effectively as the police swiftly thwarted their attempts to hold gatherings.

Security personnel used batons and tear gas before rounding up scores of people in several cities.

PTI leader Asad Qaiser told Dawn that caravans of protesters marching towards Islamabad “from across the country” would still take a few days to reach Islamabad.

“The rally coming from Peshawar to Islamabad is spread over 14 kilometres,” he claimed, adding that similar numbers would be arriving from D.I. Khan, Abbottabad, Balochistan and other areas.

Although rallies have entered Punjab, “we have instructed our workers that we are not in a hurry to reach Islamabad,” Mr Qaiser told Dawn.

“[O]ur destination is Islamabad but we can take a day or two to reach there and let the government machinery remain panicked.”

Police officials, while citing intelligence reports, said PTI’s caravan coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was likely to stay in or near Swabi on Sunday and continue its march on Monday, reaching Attock on the Punjab-KP border by the day’s end. They are then likely to move towards Islamabad on Tuesday, sources claimed.

According to journalists, the caravan from KP had halted at Ghazi Barotha, short of Attock, on Sunday night. However, many groups of PTI activists defied police expectations and entered Punjab via different highways late on Sunday.

Groups from various parts of KP, such as the Peshawar and Malakand regions, entered Punjab from various thoroughfares after circumventing roadblocks on major arteries.

Another group of protesters from southern KP was en route via the Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway, while the procession from the Hazara region used the Hazara Expressway to enter Punjab.

Bushra Bibi, the spouse of PTI founder Imran Khan, was also part of the convoy coming from Peshawar.

In a brief speech near the Swabi Interchange, Mr Gandapur urged the workers to “utilise all their energy” to remove hurdles on their way towards their destination — D-Chowk in Islamabad.

The main procession was also joined by protesters from Dera Ismail Khan, led by Mr Gandapur’s brother Umar Amin; Balochistan, led by Salar Khan Kakar; Tank; and South Waziristan.

The protesters had their first face-off with Punjab police near Attock. As police fired tear gas, they pelted stones and set fire to a toll booth and a van.

The skirmishes continued till the filing of this report, in the early hours of Monday.

Islamabad, Pindi clashes

The internet and social media faced disruption in and around Islamabad, while mobile phone services remain functional.

A police officer told Dawn that cellular services have been kept operational as part of the strategy to identify protesters entering Islamabad through the geo location of their SIMs and mobile phone IMEI numbers.

The first clash between PTI supporters and police in Islamabad took place around noon at Faizabad.

Around 20 protestors were rounded up at Faizabad, where a second round of agitation took place at sunset when a number of protestors tried to cross the interchange connecting Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

After sunset, groups of protestors reached Khanna, Dhok Kalak Khan, and Sohan, where physical confrontations with the police took place.

However, the protestors put up resistance, set containers on fire, and damaged police vehicles.

A dozen protesters also managed to reach Express Chowk, a few metres from D-Chowk, but they were swiftly rounded-up and moved to police stations for further legal action.

A massive clampdown against PTI workers and leaders was carried out by security forces in Rawalpindi.

Former law minister of Punjab, Muhammad Basharat Raja, with a handful of supporters, appeared at Bhatta Chowk but managed to escape when policemen charged with batons to disperse them.

Arrests, clashes in Punjab

The PTI leadership in Punjab was not troubled by the low turnout on Sunday and said they were in for a protracted fight with the government.

“This is only Day 1 of a long protest,” said PTI Punjab information secretary Shaukat Basra.

The party has planned to “exhaust the police” by approaching them and retreating, he said and acknowledged that hundreds of workers had been arrested in all major districts.

The party leaders and workers would now stage “flash protests to keep the police on their toes” all over the province.

PTI workers clashed with police in Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Taxila, Bahawalpur, Lodhran, Multan, Jhelum, Okara, Sahiwal, Toba Tek Singh, Khanewal, Chicha­watni and Jaranwala.

Hundreds of workers, MPA, MNAs and office-bearers were arrested as police fired tear gas and baton-charged the protesters to disperse them. The roads leading in and out of the cities were sealed with containers.

In Multan, PTI lawmakers Zain Qureshi, Amir Dogar, Moeen Qureshi, Rana Tufail Noon and others were arrested. The arrests “without any confrontation” filled PTI supporters with doubt who said the leaders “courted arrest”.

Police also alleged that several PTI leaders made voluntary arrests to stay away from the protest, which was in violation of the party’s high command’s directives.

In Lahore, MPA Farrukh Javed Moon was arrested as he helped the PTI Punjab president Hammad Azhar to escape after a brief appearance during one of the demonstrations in the city.

Mr Azhar, who has been in self-imposed hiding, was supposed to lead a rally from his constituency but he escaped before to avoid arrest.

Similarly, PTI secretary-general Salman Akram Raja had to slip away to avoid being arrested, after a rally he led was intercepted by the police.

Former MPA Nadeem Abbas Bara, MNA from Kasur Azeemuddin Zahid Lakhvi, advocate Akram Saqi, MPA Waqas Mahmood, MNA Rai Hassan Nawaz were arrested in Lahore, Sheikhupura and Chichawatni.

In Faisalabad, Sunni Ittehad Council chairman and MNA Sahibzada Hamid Raza reached the Kamalpur Interchange on Sargodha Road with scores of PTI activists.

Police used tear gas shells to stop the protesters, and the confrontation was still ongoing till the filing of this report late on Sunday.

In Gujrat, police foiled an attempt by PTI workers to take out a rally and at least two dozen of them were detained in Gujrat and Gujranwala districts.

Scores of PTI workers belonging to the constituencies of party president Chaudhary Parvez Elahi and his son Moonis Elahi tried to take out a rally from the G.T. Road bypass, but police reached there and arrested at least a dozen of them.

A statement by PTI claimed that police baton-charged peaceful protesters led by Mr Elahi’s wife, Qaisara, and her sister, Sameera Elahi.

There were reports of a brief clash in Tatlay Aali between Gujranwala police and PTI workers, who were led by former MNA Bilal Ejaz and MPA Mian Arqam Khan.

The two leaders were briefly held before enraged PTI supporters attacked the police and injured SHO Salman Saleem and ASI Rahat Nawaz.

The mob successfully freed both leaders, who escaped on motorcycles.

The police also raided the residences and political offices of former MNA Mian Tariq Mahmood and local PTI leader Lala Asadullah Papa and reportedly vandalised furniture and other belongings.

In Okara, PTI ticket holders Advocate Mahr Muhammad Arshad Mahar and Mahr Javid Iqbal were arrested along with at least three dozen workers.

In Sahiwal, MNA Rai Hasan Nawaz escaped arrest as a rally he was leading was intercepted by the police at Kamaliya Road. Later, more than 88 workers were detained along with Rana Amir Shahzad, PTI ticket holder from NA 141.

Abdul Majeed Goraya in Peshawar, Munawer Azeem in Islamabad, Mohammad Asghar in Rawalpindi, Waseem Ashraf Butt in Gujrat, Hamid Asghar in Gujar Khan, and our correspondents in Taxila, Okara, Bahawalpur and Sahiwal also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024