By Naveed Naqvi
ISLAMABAD: Police fired teargas, baton-charged and detained protesting supporters of opposition Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in major cities on Friday, a day after the former prime minister Imran Khan survived an assassination attempt.
TV footage showed police fighting with the supporters, beating them and in some places firing tear gas and bundling them into police vans. No one was seriously injured in the clashes, which were reported mostly in Punjab and the country’s commercial hub Karachi.
Key roads in major cities were blocked by protesters. Heavy contingents of police and paramilitary troops have been deployed in major cities since Thursday evening.
Khan suffered multiple bullet injuries in the right leg when a gun-wielding man opened fire on the convoy carrying Khan on Thursday, wounding at least seven people and killing a party supporter.
The protest march had been called to demand early elections. Khan was leading the march, which was meant to end in the capital Islamabad a week later.
Following the attack on Khan, protests broke out across Pakistan, where hundreds of protesters gathered, blocking roads for hours while holding party flags and chanting slogans against the army and the government.
A man suspected of firing shots at the rally was detained on Thursday evening with a 9mm pistol and two empty magazines. A leaked video shows the purported shooter confessing to an attempt on the life of Khan.
Khan has alleged that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and intelligence official Major-General Faisal Naseer were behind the assassination attack.
Khan’s political opponents have been quick to condemn the attack, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordering an immediate investigation.
Senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said Khan chaired a party meeting from the hospital and discussed the attack in detail.
“According to the initial reports, there was more than one attacker,” Chaudhry said in a series of tweets. He also said the leadership termed the attack “a prelude to a well-thought-out conspiracy” and mentioned the names of three government and military officials to be the “masterminds” behind the attack.
“The leadership expressed disappointment at IG Punjab’s performance and demanded his immediate replacement.”
In Lahore, a strong support base of Khan’s party, hundreds of protesters burnt tyres and blocked major roads. They also gathered outside the residence of Punjab governor and pelted stones at the gate, destroying security cameras and barriers.
Police used tear gas to disperse protesters near Islamabad to prevent them entering the capital roads. Protesters and security forces also clashed in Peshawar. In Karachi, hundreds of PTI supporters blocked Sharah-e-Faisal, the main artery of the country’s commercial capital, causing a major traffic jam.
Meanwhile, Punjab police on Friday have arrested two more suspects, who they believe had sold the pistol and bullets for Rs20,000 to the alleged assailant Naveed Mohammad Basheer.
Police officials said that two other suspects — Waqas and Sajid Butt — sold Basheer a pistol and bullets, adding that the pistol did not have a number or license. They were arrested from Wazirabad.
Officials said the main suspect of the attack has been handed over to the Counter-Terrorism Department of police. A polygraph test of the suspect will also be conducted to check the truth of the claim.
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