PESHAWAR/QUETTA/KARACHI: The Pakistan army on Wednesday said it would take action against “facilitators, planners and political activists” behind organized attacks on army properties and installations in the aftermath of the arrest of ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed punishment "as per the law and constitution" for violent protesters.

Khan's arrest on Tuesday afternoon sparked violent nationwide demonstrations by impassioned supporters of the ex-PM and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), arguably the most popular political party in the country, known for holding massive protests and rallies in recent years.

On Tuesday, protesters smashed the main gate of the army’s headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which neighbours Islamabad, as the army exercised restraint. Video footage widely circulated on social media showed hundreds of demonstrators shouting pro-Khan slogans as they moved toward the sprawling building.

In Lahore, the provincial capital of Pakistan's most politically important and populous Punjab province, about 4,000 of Khan’s supporters stormed the official residence of the top regional military commander on Tuesday evening, smashing windows and doors, damaging furniture and staging a sit-in as troops there retreated to avoid violence. The protesters also burned police vehicles, damaged government buildings and blocked key roads.

“Immediately after his arrest, there were organized attacks on army properties and installations and anti-army slogans were raised,” the army’s media wing, ISPR, said in a strongly-worded statement that all but named Khan’s PTI party.

“What the eternal enemies of the country could not do for seventy-five years, this group, wrapped in a political cloak, has succeeded in doing in its lust for power.”

Referring to ongoing protests and political turmoil in the country, ISPR said it was done through “nefarious planning,” calling it a “heinous attempt” to force a reaction from army that those behind the unrest could then use to fulfill their political ends.

“Army's mature response thwarted this conspiracy,” the statement said. “We are well aware that behind this are the orders, directives and directives of some evil leaders of the party … Facilitators, planners and political activists involved in these operations have been identified and strict action will be taken against them as per the law and all these evil elements will now themselves be responsible for the consequences.”

The army said any further attacks on the army, any other law enforcement agencies and military and state installations and properties would be responded to with full force, the “complete responsibility of which will fall on the shoulders of the very group that wants to push Pakistan into a civil war and has repeatedly expressed that it wants to do so.”

“No one can be allowed to incite people and take the law into their hands,” the statement concluded.

In an address to the nation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also castigated PTI and its leaders, saying it was their responsibility to guide supporters "not to cross the line."

"Unfortunately, Imran Khan and PTI not only did not take the legal route, in fact they propagated attacking and damaging sensitive, important public and private properties and showed they are enemies of the country," Sharif said.

"I warn these terrorists and enemies of the country to back off from these nefarious actions," the prime minister said, adding that those responsible for damage to lives and public property would be "punished as per the law and constitution."

A statement released by the Prime Minister's office after a meeting of the cabinet also slammed the PTI, saying it had gone from "targeting sensitive institutions and their officers" to "terrorist attacks on sensitive institutions and buildings."

Khan, who was ousted from the office of the prime minister in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence last April, has blamed the army, and its then army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, of plotting with the incumbent coalition government of PM Shehbaz Sharif to remove him. Khan came to power in a 2018 general election widely believed to have been rigged in his favour by the military - which both deny - but has since had a falling out with the army. He has said in interviews that his party's relations with Pakistan's all-powerful army have not improved under the new army chief, Gen Asim Munir. 

Khan has repeatedly said, including hours before his arrest on Tuesday, that intelligence official Major-General Faisal Naseer, a serving military officer, was behind an apparent assassination attack against his life last year. In recent rallies, Khan has repeated the name of Naseer, saying he was plotting to kill him and also said he was behind the murder of a pro-Khan TV anchor, Arshad Sharif, shot dead in Nairobi last year in what Kenyan police have called a case of "mistaken identity."

The army has called the allegations “baseless” and warned Khan of legal action.

The army’s latest warning to PTI came as five people were killed, dozens were injured and hundreds were arrested as nationwide protests against the arrest of Khan entered the second day, presenting a new blow to the nuclear-armed country as it struggles with its most daunting economic crisis to date.

Mobile data services were shut for a second day while Twitter, YouTube and Facebook were disrupted, as security forces tried to restore order after violence killed one person late on Tuesday in Quetta.

Authorities in three of Pakistan's four provinces have imposed an emergency order banning all gatherings after Khan's supporters clashed with police. The government has also sanctioned the deployment of the army in the federal capital as well as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces to keep law and order, while a decision is pending on a request to the federal government by the Balochistan province to deploy troops.

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, said four bodies had been received by the facility that day.

"84 injured people were brought to LRH,” media manager Asim Khan said. “Four have died since morning, the rest are being treated.”

Khan said another person had died late on Tuesday in a city in Malakand District of KP, bringing the total death toll in the province to five.

He said a majority of those being treated at LRH had gunshot wounds.

DG Radio Pakistan said the Pakistan Radio building in Peshawar was set ablaze by at least 200 protesters who entered the premises and destroyed equipment and official records and torched four official vehicles parked in the station. 

Protesters also razed the Chaghi monument honoring Pakistan’s first nuclear test location.

BALOCHISTAN

In the southwestern province of Balochistan, one person was killed late on Tuesday night.

Waseem Baig, a spokesman at the Civil Hospital Quetta in the provincial capital, said the facility had received seven injured people and one body, identified as 27-year-old Umar Aziz, who was buried in Quetta on Wednesday.

Police said they were carrying out raids to round up PTI supporters resorting to violence.

"More than 40 PTI supporters have been arrested," a senior police officer in the city told Arab News, providing figures for total arrests from Tuesday and Wednesday’s protests.

A spokesman for PTI's Balochistan chapter, Asif Tareen, said a “crackdown” against the PTI's provincial leadership was ongoing since Tuesday night, and police had entered the residences of many supporters and activists.  

"The provincial leadership was shifted to safe areas to avoid arrest but their family members are being picked up by police,” Tareen said. “Police raided our provincial party office today and booked 12 of our party workers.”

SINDH

In the southern province of Sindh, 270 protesters have been arrested since Tuesday, police said. No deaths have been reported in the province.

“With the help of CCTV, arrests of those identified as damaging public and private property are going on,” Abdul Rasheed Chana, the spokesperson for the Sindh chief minister said.

“The Chief Minister of Sindh said that whoever has damaged the property, I want each and every accused behind the bars,” Chana quoted Murad Saeed as saying.

The PTI Sindh released a statement on Wednesday night, accusing Sindh police of using violence against and arrested "peaceful protesters."

PUNJAB

In the province of Punjab, Pakistan’s most politically important and populous, the federal government on Wednesday sanctioned the deployment of army troops “for maintaining law & order situation across the Punjab province in aide of civil power,” a notification issued by the country's interior ministry said.

The decision was taken on the request of provincial authorities who said they would work out the “exact number of troops/assets, date and area of deployment” in consultation with the military.

On Wednesday, there were reports of mass arrests on Liberty Chowk, where Khan supporters had been asked by the PTI to gather for protests.

In a statement released on Wednesday morning, Punjab police said over 130 policemen had been injured in protests since Tuesday by “miscreants involved in violent acts, vandalism, damage to public and private property throughout the province.”

A police spokesperson said over 25 police and government vehicles had been damaged and burnt while 14 government buildings had been attacked, looted and damaged.

“Police teams have arrested 945 law breakers and miscreants from across the province,” the statement said.

ISLAMABAD

In Islamabad, the federal capital, around 500 Khan supporters clashed with police and pelted them with stoned on the Srinagar Highway, a main road in the city. Police retaliated with intense teargas shelling. Subsequently, fresh police contingents were called in to push back protestors who had blocked the road for all kinds of traffic.

Islamabad police spokesperson Taqi Jawad told Arab News over 100 PTI supporters had been arrested "for damaging public property" while 12 police officials were injured. No deaths have so far been reported in clashes in Islamabad.

"This can't be tolerated, the law will take its course," Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told a news conference. "These violent attacks were not the outcome of any public outpouring, they were planned by the PTI rank and file."

– With additional inputs from Aamir Saeed in Islamabad and Haseeb Asif in Lahore