ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), on Monday retracted its previous claim of hundreds of deaths of its workers during clashes with law enforcement agencies during last week’s protest at Islamabad’s D-Chowk.
The party has now claimed that 12 people lost their lives in the incident.
The government has repeatedly rejected the claims saying that security personnel were deployed to counter the violent protestors without live ammunition.
It is pertinent to mention that the PTI, in the early hours of Wednesday (November 27) announced that it was calling off its Islamabad protest sit-in “for the time being,” after a government action in the city’s Red Zone ended in the party leadership’s quick retreat.
The PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar, speaking to the media after a meeting with the party’s founder Imran Khan at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, said that they had provided information about the Islamabad protest to Imran Khan.
“Due to a lack of access to newspapers and TV, the founder was unaware of what had happened in Islamabad on November 26,” said Gohar.
Barrister Gohar also praised the party workers who had participated in the protests. “The founder’s message is that we should attend the National Assembly session, go to the Senate, and raise this issue in parliament,” Gohar added.
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He went on to say that the PTI founder would announce the next course of action later. He added that today they informed Imran Khan about the deaths of Rangers, police, and PTI workers, to which he expressed deep sorrow.
“No shots should have been fired during the sit-in or protests, whether in Islamabad or anywhere else,” he said.
Barrister Gohar, the PTI founder has sent a message to the party to maintain unity, as opponents are trying to create divisions.
Barrister Gohar, while dismissing claims made by party leaders about the killing of hundreds of workers, stated, “We will not give irresponsible statements. Only 12 workers have been killed.”
