ISLAMABAD: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party will hold a public gathering in Peshawar today, Sunday, to honor those who allegedly died during last month’s protest in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, party leaders said.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Nov. 24 led thousands of supporters to Islamabad, seeking to pressure the government to release the ex-premier from jail and order an audit of Feb. 8 national election results. The protests resulted in clashes that Pakistan’s government says killed four law enforcers and injured hundreds of others.
The PTI says at least 12 of its supporters were killed and another 37 sustained gunshot injuries due to firing by law enforcers near Islamabad’s Jinnah Avenue on Nov. 26, while 139 of its supporters were still “missing.” Pakistani authorities have denied the deaths, saying security personnel had not been carrying live ammunition during the protest.
In a video message on Saturday, Qasim Suri, former deputy speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly from the PTI, said Khan had instructed Pakistanis to observe Sunday as the “martyrs’ day” to honor the ones who died during the Islamabad protest, urging Pakistanis in the country and abroad to observe the day in their respective areas.
“The blood of those martyrs will never go in vain,” Suri said. “Hundreds of our supporters are still missing. Our mothers, sisters, our families are worried [about them].”
The development comes two days after the PTI filed a petition in an Islamabad court against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and other officials over “firing” on its supporters during last month’s protest.
The government has accused the PTI of waging a “propaganda” regarding the Islamabad protest, following statements by several PTI members that gave varied accounts of casualties.
It formed two task forces in the aftermath of the Islamabad protest: one to identify and take legal action against rioters and another to track and bring to justice suspects behind what the government described as a “malicious campaign” to spread “concocted, baseless and inciting” online news, images and video content against the state and security forces.
The PTI has staged several protests this year to demand the release of Khan and to challenge results of the Feb. 8 national election, which it says were manipulated to favor its opponents. The Pakistani government and election authorities deny this.
Last month’s protests were by far the largest to grip the capital since the poll, while Khan, who remains a popular figure in Pakistan despite being in prison and facing several court cases, has also threatened to launch a civil disobedience movement.
