ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers on Tuesday blocked the M-2 section of the motorway and several other roads in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, disrupting traffic and routine life as people struggled to commute to work with several stuck on roads for hours.
Several private and public schools in the federal capital also remained closed after the PTI workers continued the blockade of roads in the suburbs of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The PTI workers have been protesting against the assassination attempt on party chief and former prime minister Imran Khan who survived a gun attack on his convoy near Wazirabad during his anti-government rally. During the shooting, Imran Khan sustained three bullets before he was taken to Lahore for surgery where doctors treated him for three days before he was discharged on November 6.
Imran Khan, who has been pressing for a general election since he was ousted as prime minister after losing a confidence vote in parliament in April, was shot at the rally last Thursday (November 3). He is recovering from leg wounds.
Owing to the PTI workers’ protests, several goods vehicles have been stuck on different highways including on GT Road and the motorways, creating an artificial shortage of fruit and vegetables.
The PTI workers have also blocked the highway near the Islamabad international airport and on the M-2 motorway linking the capital to Lahore and Peshawar. The PTI workers also burnt tyres as they set up protest camps on several roads.
PTI workers reportedly also ransacked the IG police office and the Governor’s House in Lahore and broke lights.
The PTI workers also blocked the Faizabad junction, disruption traffic between the twin cities.
They also blocked the old airport and staged protest in Shamsabad and Pirwadhai.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad administration has sent a contingents of Rangers, FC and police to clear and vacate the blocked roads near the Islamabad airport and the M-2 motorway.
Rangers and FC also have started patrolling the roads between the Rawalpindi-Islamabad interchange, leading to the Islamabad airport.
PTI Long March Halted
The PTI had halted the long march after the attack on Imran Khan in Wazirabad on November 3. Now, the party has announced to resume the stalled anti-government rally from Wazirabad from Thursday. Imran Khan has also announced to join the anti-government rally when it reaches Rawalpindi as he is recovering from the bullet wouds..
Earlier, Khan had named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sannaullah and a serving army general for the attack on him, demanding to register an FIR against them.
Interestingly, the Punjab government, where his party is in power, resorted to dilly-dally tactics to register the FIR with police fearing reprisal from a powerful institution, whose officer, among others, had been accused by the PTI chief of being behind the attack.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) took strong except to the charges of Imran Khan, terming them “baseless and irresponsible” and “absolutely unacceptable and uncalled for”.
Imran Khan also wrote a letter to President Arif Alvi stating that since Khan’s government was removed from power in April, his party had been confronted with “an ever-increasing scale of false allegations, harassment, arrests and custodial torture.”
SC Orders Registration of FIR
On Monday (November 7) Pakistan’s Supreme Court directed the Punjab police inspector-general to register the FIR of the attack on Imran Khan.
On Tuesday, the Wazirabad police registered the FIR of the attack on Imran Khan, however, it has nominated the arrested shooter (Naveed Maher) in the FIR under various terrorism charges.
The Lahore police refused to book the persons Imran Khan had demanded to nominate in the FIR.
Imran Khan was among 10 persons wounded people while one of the party workers was killed. Police have arrested the suspected shooter.
Meanwhile, Punjab Police Inspector General Faisal Shahkar on Tuesday submitted a report to the Supreme Court Lahore registry a copy of the first information report (FIR) of the attack on Imran Khan in Wazirabad on November 3.
The police chief said that on the directives of the Supreme Court, the FIR had been registered at Wazirabad’s City police station under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
Three-Member Prosecutors’ Panel Formed
Meanwhile, the Punjab government has constituted a three-member committee to probe the assassination attempt on Imran Khan.
According to a notification issued by the Punjab prosecutor general, the committee “will give line of inquiry to the investigating officer/JIT (joint investigation team), provide guidance for collection of proper admissible evidence and conduct the remand of the accused before the anti-terrorism court (ATC)”.
“The panel shall also conduct the prosecution on behalf of the state before the court,” the notification said.
The committee comprises Punjab Deputy Prosecutor General Hafiz Asghar Ali and Gujranwala ATC Deputy District Public Prosecutors Rana Sultan Salahuddin Khan and Zahid Sarfraz Khan.
Meanwhile, the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Rawalpindi said in a statement that practical examinations due on November 8 and November 9 had been postponed in light of the ongoing situation. The board said that a new date for the exams would be announced soon.
Bilawal Calls For Impartial Probe
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has called for an impartial probe into the gun attack on Imran Khan.
In an interview with American broadcaster CNN, Bilawal strongly condemned the attack on Imran Khan and demanded it should be investigated properly to bring the facts forth.
“I’d like to utter my condemnation […] absolutely there needs to be free and fair investigation. An attack on the former prime minister or anyone needs to be probed in an impartial manner,” he said.
