ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership called off the much-hyped protest, which began on November 24, in Islamabad after the government launched a grand operation to disperse the protestors, leaving the senior party leadership escaping from the scene.
The announcement comes after last night’s crackdown cleared Islamabad’s D-Chowk and Blue Area with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and PTI founder Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi fleeing the protest site.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the party spokesperson stated, “In light of the government’s brutality and plans to turn the federal capital into a slaughterhouse for unarmed citizens, we are announcing the temporary suspension of our peaceful protest.”
Party spokesperson condemned the alleged “killing” and “terror and brutality against peaceful protesters in the name of an operation”.
The Imran Khan-founded party said that it would announce the future course of action in the light of guidance from jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. “The party’s political and core committees would analyse the details of the government’s brutality and later, the findings would be shared with the PTI founder.”
The party confirmed that dozens of innocent workers were martyred by direct bullets from government machinery. “So far, the party has received the details of eight martyrs,” said the PTI spokesperson.
The martyrs include Anis Shehzad Satti, Malik Mubeen Aurangzeb, Abdul Qadir, Malik Safdar Ali, Ahmed Wali, Muhammad Ilyas, and Abdul Rashid, as per the statement.
The spokesperson also appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan for a suo motu notice of the heinous killing of the workers and ordered legal action against the Prime Minister, the Interior Minister, and the Inspectors General of Islamabad and Punjab.
