Life returns to normal in Pakistan’s capital, Imran Khan’s party ends protest

ISLAMABAD: Life was returning to normal in the Pakistani capital on Monday after the violent protest by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporters subsided in the wake of high drama involving the mysterious disappearance of the party leader Ali Amin Gandapur.

Gandapur, the chief minister of the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the northwest, is a mercurial PTI leader and confidante of jailed party founder Imran Khan.

With shoulder-length flowing hair, a thick moustache, a broad chest and considerable height, he boasts a towering personality.

Following Imran Khan’s directives, he announced that the party will stage a protest at the famous D-Chowk of Islamabad in the heart of the city on Friday – the same venue where the PTI had organised a sit-in for 126 days in 2014.

Leading a caravan of dozens of vehicles and overcoming road blockades and resistance by police, he finally managed to reach the capital on Saturday afternoon.

After arriving in the national capital, he left his supporters and went to the KP House, the property of his government in Islamabad, for refreshments, but disappeared from there.

After remaining incommunicado for more than 24 hours, he suddenly appeared Sunday evening at the provincial assembly building in Peshawar. He made a fiery speech to the assembly but failed to give exact details about his whereabouts when he was not accessible to his family or party.

As the media frenzy focused on his disappearance, hundreds of protestors whom he had led to Islamabad silently melted away and probably went back to their homes, except those arrested by police.

As the protestors went away, the authorities began to lift the siege of the city, clearing most of the roads and restoring the suspended mobile services.

By Monday morning, life returned to normal in twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Public transportation resumed its regular routes, although the Islamabad Metro Bus service remains partially suspended.

Roads and thoroughfares in Islamabad have reopened. Containers obstructing major arteries in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have been removed. Government offices, private businesses, and schools have reopened.

Civic bodies were busy at several places in Islamabad repairing and renovating sidewalks, roads and bridges ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit to be held here next week.

Meanwhile, Pakistan authorities registered new cases under terrorism laws against Imran Khan and dozens of his supporters for violence and vandalism in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

The Express Tribune newspaper reported that according to the FIR lodged in Lahore, police accused that Khan has been provided with extraordinary privileges inside prison, which allowed him to communicate with his party leaders and incite them to engage in violent actions.

Additionally, several cases have been registered against PTI workers for violating Section 144 by holding protest in the city. The protest was prohibited under the emergency law, which was in effect at the time.

Meanwhile, a case was registered at Naseerabad Police Station in Rawalpindi against Khan and 300 party workers under the Anti-Terrorism Act. So far, 16 protesters have been arrested.

On Monday, the Punjab government banned Imran Khan from meeting his family members, lawyers and party leaders till October 18, citing “security concerns”.

Khan has been lodged in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail in multiple cases since August 2023.

“Incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been banned from meeting their family, lawyers, and party leaders at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, till Oct 18,” a Punjab government official said, adding that the decision was taken given “security concerns”.

According to sources, the government decided in anticipation of the upcoming SCO summit.

The coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has alleged that Khan’s party is staging protest in Islamabad to sabotage the summit. The Pakistan Army has been called in to provide security for the SCO summit. (PTI)