ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government has called on the powerful military to deploy in the capital Islamabad after violence broke out Saturday when security forces attempted to disperse a weeks-long sit-in, the Interior Ministry said, according to an AFP report.
The request was made by Islamabad Capital Territory authorities, according to an Interior Ministry order, which said the federal government had authorized the deployment of “sufficient troops” to “control law and order” in the city until further notice.
There was no immediate comment from military officials.
The order came after Pakistani police clashed violently with hardline religious protesters in Islamabad Saturday, leaving at least one person dead and more than 130 injured.
Law enforcement agencies failed to break up a three-week sit-in in Islamabad
The police used tear gas and rubber bullets in an attempt to disperse over 2,000 protesters at the Faizabad interchange, the main gateway between Islamabad and Rawalpindi. But the operation failed to shift the protesters, even though, according to a police spokesman, around 9,000 police and paramilitary troops took part in the operation and arrested around 200 protesters.
The government had declared a state of emergency in all hospitals in the federal capital and Rawalpindi, and reports stated that over 200 people were injured — from both sides — during the clashes.
The mass protests have been ongoing since Nov. 8, with hard-line extremists demanding the resignation of Minister of Law Zahid Hamid for his alleged involvement in a change in the wording of an oath for lawmakers that declares Prophet Muhammad as God’s final prophet, by omitting the clauses pertaining to the official status of Ahmadis.
The government quickly restored the oath to its original wording, and have announced that the change occurred because of a “clerical error” which had nothing to do with Hamid, but the right-wing protesters are still demanding that the law minister be forced to step down for what they claim amounts to blasphemy.
Saturday’s operation continued for at least four hours. Protesters, who disabled nearby CCTV cameras, reportedly fought back with rocks, iron rods and clubs against law enforcement personnel, and set at least four police vehicles on fire.
The stiff resistance meant the police were unable to reach the stage from which the leaders of the sit-in — including the wheelchair-bound hard-line cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, leader of the Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah party (TLYR) — were directing their followers to attack the security forces.
Shortly after the police launched their operation in Islamabad, thousands of TLYR followers took to the streets in other parts of Pakistan, including Karachi, Faisalabad, Lahore, Narowal and Multan, and blocked several of the country’s main highways.
In an attempt to regain control the situation, the government has taken all private television channels off the air and has blocked social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa telephoned Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and suggested the Islamabad sit-in should be handled peacefully, according to Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces.
“COAS telephoned PM. Suggested to handle Isb Dharna peacefully avoiding violence from both sides as it is not in national interest & cohesion,” Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, director general of the PR wing, tweeted, after the operation had been called off.
Dr. Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a renowned political analyst, told Arab News that the situation could spiral out of control if the protesters succeeded in sustaining their demonstrations across the country for another week.
“If political parties like Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan People’s Party jump in to exploit the situation, then definitely the government will be left with no option but to announce early elections,” he predicted.
Regarding the suspension of television channels and social media platforms, he said the government is simply making the situation worse for itself, and that it could be paving the way for its own ouster.
Minister of State for Interior Muhammad Tallal Chaudhry told Arab News that his ministry has written separate letters to all provincial governments saying they should ensure security for members of the ruling party, ministers and their families.
“I myself have been a target of hate speech by mullahs and I definitely feared for my life,” he said, adding that the extremists have been inciting their followers against ministers, ruling party members, and their families through hate speech. Chaudhry explained that Hamid and his family have been told to restrict their movement “and be extra-careful until the situation calms down.”
The minister added that the government sees its refusal to bow to the protesters’ demands as “a national cause, while fully understanding the consequences of resisting them.”
Pakistan protests: Army called in to ‘control law and order’
Pakistan protests: Army called in to ‘control law and order’
Trump says US could run Venezuela and its oil for years
- US president made the comments less than a week after Washington seized Maduro in a raid on Caracus
- Oil has emerged as the key to US control over Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven reserves
WASHINGTON: The United States could run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, President Donald Trump said in an interview published Thursday, less than a week after toppling its leader Nicolas Maduro.
“Only time will tell” how long Washington would demand direct oversight of the South American country, Trump told The New York Times.
But when asked whether that meant three months, six months or a year, he replied: “I would say much longer.”
The 79-year-old US leader also said he wanted to travel to Venezuela eventually. “I think at some point it’ll be safe,” he said.
US special forces snatched president Maduro and his wife in a lightning raid on Saturday and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges, underscoring what Trump has called the “Donroe Doctrine” of US hegemony over its backyard.
Since then Trump has repeatedly asserted that the United States will “run” Venezuela, despite the fact that it has no boots on the ground.
Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodriguez insisted that no foreign power was governing her country. “There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history,” Rodriguez said of the US attack.
But she added it was “not unusual or irregular” to trade with the United States now, following an announcement by state oil firm PDVSA that it was in negotiations to sell crude to the United States.
‘Tangled mess’
Oil has in fact emerged as the key to US control over Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven reserves.
Trump announced a plan earlier this week for the United States to sell between 30 million and 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, with Caracas then using the money to buy US-made products.
On the streets of Caracas, opinions remain mixed about the oil plan.
“I feel we’ll have more opportunities if the oil is in the hands of the United States than in the hands of the government,” said Jose Antonio Blanco, 26. “The decisions they’ll make are better.”
Teresa Gonzalez, 52, said she didn’t know if the oil sales plan was good or bad.
“It’s a tangled mess. What we do is try to survive, if we don’t work, we don’t eat,” she added.
Trump, who will meet oil executives on Friday, is also considering a plan for the US to exert some control over Venezuela’s PDVSA, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The US would then have a hand in controlling most of the oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, as Trump aims to drive oil prices down to $50 a barrel, the paper reported.
Vice President JD Vance underscored that “the way that we control Venezuela is we control the purse strings.”
“We tell the regime, ‘you’re allowed to sell the oil so long as you serve America’s national interest,’” he told Fox News host Jesse Watters in an interview broadcast late Wednesday.
‘Go like Maduro’
Vance, an Iraq veteran who is himself a skeptic of US military adventures, also addressed concerns from Trump’s “Make America Great Again,” saying the plan would exert pressure “without wasting a single American life.”
The US Senate is voting Thursday on a “war powers” resolution to require congressional authorization for military force against Venezuela, a test of Republican support for Trump’s actions.
Caracas announced on Wednesday that at least 100 people had been killed in the US attack and a similar number wounded. Havana says 32 Cuban soldiers were among them.
Trump’s administration has so far indicated it intends to stick with Rodriguez and sideline opposition figures, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado.
But Rodriguez’s leadership faces internal pressures, analysts have told AFP, notably from her powerful Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.
“Her power comes from Washington, not from the internal structure. If Trump decides she’s no longer useful, she’ll go like Maduro,” Venezuela’s former information minister Andres Izarra told AFP in an email.
The US operation in Venezuela — and Trump’s hints that other countries could be next — spread shockwaves through the Americas, but but he has since dialed down tensions with Colombia.
A day after Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro spoke with Trump on Wednedsday, Bogota said Thursday it had agreed to take “joint action” against cocaine-smuggling guerrillas on the border with Venezuela.
