PESHAWAR: Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Ali Amin Gandapur on Sunday condemned the police’s utilizing drive in opposition to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members in Rawalpindi a day in the past, stating that his celebration would retaliate in opposition to any gun shot, shelling, or use of baton in opposition to its supporters.
The fiery PTI chief said that three of their activists had been shot and injured, and that one in every of them was lacking.
“Shells and bullets have been fired each three kilometres on us, injuring over 50 PTI staff,” he stated.
Gandapur stated this after returning to Peshawar because the PTI protest in Rawalpindi was “known as off” amid violent clashes between protesters and riot police close to Liaquat Bagh.
The Gandapur-led convoy remained caught on the interchange for a number of hours because of closure of roads because the authorities had positioned containers at Burhan Interchange in an try and thwart PTI’s protest.
Addressing the individuals, the KP chief govt directed them to return to Peshawar and castigated the federal government for not granting PTI its “constitutional proper”.
Vowing to come back again with “all sources”, he regretted that the police fired teargas and rubber bullets on the protesters.
Then again, Gandapur stated, scores of police officers have been caught by the celebration activists however he rescued them.
“They [police] have set a precedent of firing bullets […] We even have weapons,” he said.
In the meantime, he saluted the residents of KP and Rawalpindi Division over their help for the previous ruling celebration.
PTI staff demand Gandapur to step down
Gandapur’s announcement to postpone the protest on Saturday drew robust opposition from the protesters as they refused to return and demanded his resignation.
The PTI staff surrounded the KP chief minister’s car and staged a protest in opposition to the celebration management at Burhan Interchange.
Nonetheless, the protest was known as off after PTI chief Azam Swati’s intervention.
Chatting with the protesters, the previous federal minister stated they’d cancelled the Rawalpindi protest on Imran Khan’s directions. “Now we have to observe his [PTI founder] directives.”
Earlier, the Punjab authorities had imposed Part 144 of the Code of Felony Process (CrPC) in Rawalpindi Division for 2 days, banning all political gatherings, sit-ins, rallies, protests, and related actions.
PTI initially deliberate to carry a public rally at Liaquat Bagh however transformed the occasion into an illustration on the directives of the previous prime minister.
It additionally withdrew its software searching for a no-objection certificates (NOC) to carry a rally from the Lahore Excessive Court docket Rawalpindi bench.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Salman Akram Raja have been additionally detained on their approach to Rawalpindi close to Sector H-13 solely to be launched shortly.
In an announcement issued earlier, the PTI stated Gohar and Salman have been travelling to Rawalpindi when the police stopped their car close to Sector H-13 and took them into custody. “They [law enforcers] took each the leaders away in a van.”
Following his launch, the PTI chief — whereas talking to Geo Information — stated that the police requested them to return “as a substitute of heading to Rawalpindi”.
Then again, Rawalpindi police spokesperson stated that the town was on “excessive alert” and police personnel have been deployed on the metropolis’s entry and exit factors.
The spokesperson reiterated that no unlawful public gatherings can be permitted anyplace within the metropolis and warned that strict motion can be taken in opposition to any violations.
The Imran Khan-founded celebration, as a part of its months-long efforts to safe permission to carry public gatherings, has managed to carry two rallies in Islamabad and Lahore underneath strict situations in current weeks.
