Dist admin calls out FC.  Police resorts to tear gas shelling to disperse PTI supporters at Chungi No. 26.  Many cops including SSP Safe City injured after charged PTI workers pelt police with stones.  PTI leaders address rally, give two-week deadline for Imran Khan’s release, warn to expand protests across Punjab. Security beefed up in city after police claim recovery of explosive material near rally venue.

ISLAMABAD   -  The supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) clashed with Islamabad police and pelted the force with stones on the outskirts of Islamabad when the Capital city’s administration summoned FC personnel and ordered a crackdown against the party workers after the rally organizers violated the prescribed time and continued the public gathering Sunday evening.

The time for the main rally venue Chungi No. 26 rally in the capital was from 4pm to 7pm, says the NOC issued by the district administration.

According to the details, the PTI workers had pelted stones at the police. The deputy commissioner had made it clear that if the stone pelting continued, then many of the workers would be arrested.

The party staged the power show at Chungi No. 26 in Sangjani to gain support for their leader Imran Khan’s release, who has been languishing in Adiala Jail since last August 2023. The PTI supporters clashed with the police as the latter tried to disperse them. Footages emerging on social media and TV channels showed the police firing tear gas shells to disperse the PTI supporters.

The police said that the local administration had designated a route and timeframe for the rally, but the supporters violated the route which led to the faceoff. The Islamabad police further said that the rally exceeded the hours and the police had to disperse the supporters which led to clashes and the ultimate use of tear gas shelling. They said by exceeding the timeframe, the rally organisers violated the regulations detailed in the no-objection certificate (NOC) issued to the party for the rally.

“Thus, the Deputy Commissioner Islamabad ordered the police to disperse the supporters, instructing the police and the administration to take strict action.”

The deputy commissioner had made it clear that if the stone pelting continues, then many of the workers will be arrested.

“Now the public gathering has become illegal, so therefore the cases will be registered if the instructions of ending the rally will not be followed,” the deputy commissioner added.

Many police officers including Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Safe City Shoaib Khan were injured when the PTI protestors started pelting stones.

Meanwhile, the shelling continued by the police to disperse the workers from the area.

The Islamabad had police blocked almost all exit and entry points of the capital city ahead of the PTI rally amid intelligence reports of a ‘medium-level’ terrorism threat in light of the gathering.

The authorities blocked 21 points with containers as the PTI supporters and general public have had to face difficulties in making their way towards destinations. The points which were blocked were Nicholson’s Monument, New Margalla Road turn on G.T Road, Sangjani Toll Plaza, Water Tanki on Margalla Road, New Margalla Road Loop opposite F-10/2, Chungi Number 26, Zero Point, Faisal Chowk, Khayban Chowk, Rawat T-Cross, Khanna Bridge, Tramri Chowk, Shahpur Road Turn, U-Turn on Murree Road, Bridge on Murree Road near Traffic Office, Faizabad, 9th Avenue, Gandum Godown, Golra Mor Haji Camp, Motorway Old Toll Plaza, and Tarnol Phattak. All the roads leading to the ‘red zone’ except for the Margalla Road were also blocked.

The Islamabad district administration earlier this week had issued an NOC to the PTI for public gathering on the outskirts of Islamabad, with a condition that the permission can be cancelled at any time in case of a “security situation”.

Later, security was beefed up after police claimed to have recovered explosive material near the rally venue.

Police said in a statement that hand grenades, rocket launchers, detonators and bombs were hidden in a sack.

Officials of the bomb disposal squad have reached the spot and taken explosives into custody.

After the recovery of explosives, the district administration has deployed a heavy contingent of police.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is accused of using state machinery for the PTI rally in Islamabad. Dozens of Rescue 1122 vehicles have reached Swabi.

Rescue 1122 fire vehicles and ambulances were present in Swabi. Rescue 1122 DG has instructed his personnel to attend the rally with at least two vehicles from each district.

Dozens of emergency rescue personnel have been instructed to go to Islamabad with vehicles; ambulances have been dispatched along with convoys of members of National and provincial assemblies coming from the northern and southern districts.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has taken notice of the incident and sought a report from IG Islamabad police.

According to a statement from the interior ministry, Naqvi has been in contact with the injured SSP and has ordered the provision of the best medical facilities to the injured policemen.

Earlier, the rally started with a large number of party workers. PTI leaders Hammad Azhar, Sher Afzal Marwat, Raja Nasr Abbas, Jamshed Dasti, Aoun Abbas Pabi, and others took the stage to speak to the attendees. PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and PTI founder Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, were also present on stage.

Pledging to expand the movement to Punjab, the PTI also gave a two-week deadline for the release of its jailed party founder, Imran Khan, as it flexed its political muscle in the federal capital with a major rally, amid skirmishes with police.

The ultimatum was given by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur as he addressed the charged participants of the rally.

“If the founder of PTI is not legally released within one to two weeks, we will have him freed ourselves,” the chief minister said, declaring that he would take the lead and the first bullet.

During his speech, PTI leader Hammad Azhar urged supporters to be prepared, stating, “I told you at the Swabi rally that we would make an announcement. Punjab, get ready, we will stand until the last drop of blood.”

He criticised the current government, claiming that the obstacles prove their fear of the PTI and accusing them of harassing the judiciary to maintain their hold on power. He emphasised that if the PTI founder did not believe in the constitution, the situation would have been far worse.

Speaking during the rally, PTI leader Ali Muhammad Khan demanded Imran’s immediate release and lamented how the party’s leaders were being sidelined by the government.

“I never thought there would be a day that Imran Khan, who formed our party to save Pakistan, would be put in jail,” Ali Muhammad said.

He added that today, neither PTI stalwarts Murad Saeed nor Shehryar Khan Afridi were present at the rally, nor was Qasim Khan Suri.

“Why can Murad Saeed not come out of hiding? Is it a crime to love Pakistan, or speak the truth? We will continue speaking the truth, as will our children”, he asserted.

“Today, Pakistan’s biggest party is in Pakistan, but our workers cannot go to parliament. What is their crime?”

PTI maverick Sher Afzal Khan Marwat said: “We have one message for the Pakhtuns, that we will go to Punjab within a week, and Ali Ami Gandapur will tell you the date.

“These people, who erected the containers, whose police charged you with batons, I want them to listen [that] we are coming to Lahore,” Marwat said.

Meanwhile, during her speech, PTI member Aliya Hamza Malik questioned whether Pakistanis wanted true freedom and their rights or wished to continue witnessing enforced disappearances in the country.

“Do you want a Pakistan for future generations, or one where your homes are attacked? Come out and demand Imran Khan’s release, you will all come and support me, as I know you are standing with the leader in Adiala.

“He will see how he’s struck fear into the government. We need to come out for our leader’s release now.”

Meanwhile, the party slammed the police intervention at the rally as an “idiotic move” in a post on X. Senior party leader Hammad Azhar said, “What an idiotic move to start shelling on peaceful participants”. “Will raise the political temperature in a situation where the public is already furious at the form 47 govt.”

Khan was expected to be released from prison after a district and sessions court in Islamabad accepted his appeals against his conviction in the Iddat case. However, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested him in a new Toshakhana reference shortly afterward. His sentences in the previous two Toshakhana cases were already suspended while he was also acquitted by the Islamabad High Court in the much-hyped cipher case.

Senior PTI leader and former Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser decried the placement of containers on roads, deeming them the measures of a “fascist government… creating a hostile environment”. “It is unfortunate that this fascist government with a stolen mandate is up to such a hostile environment,” he said in a video message uploaded on X.