— Caretaker chief minister of Punjab, whose term expires at midnight, calls protestors terrorists
— Says former US ambassador Khalilzad ‘worth no more than a clerk’, demands action against him
LAHORE: The interim government of Punjab accused Dr Yasmin Rashid, a leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), of playing a “significant role” in the violent protests that erupted following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday.
For two days, several thousand enraged supporters of the chairman of the opposition party rampaged through cities around the country, setting fire to buildings and blocking roads.
At least nine people have died in the unrest, police and hospitals said. Hundreds of police officers have been injured and more than 2,000 people arrested, mostly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Since Wednesday, the army has been deployed in two provinces and in the capital.
The interior ministry has also restricted access to social media sites Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, according to the telecommunications regulator.
Addressing a news conference in Lahore on Sunday, Mohsin Naqvi, caretaker chief minister of the province, said he wanted to uphold women’s dignity and that Rashid was taken to the hospital to ensure her safety and prevent her from being victimised.
Naqvi claimed, without providing sufficient evidence, that Rashid was a key figure in the entire episode, and expressed his hope that the judiciary would treat the case fairly, as they were equally concerned about the “terrorist incidents” that occurred.
Disclosing the extent of the damage caused during the protests, Naqvi said that 108 cars, including police vehicles, were set ablaze across the province, along with 23 buildings, including banks and the residence of the commander of Lahore Corps, being damaged.
Naqvi also claimed that in Lahore, six Hilux, two police Vigo trucks, 12 buses, one jail van, four bikes, and two single-cabin vehicles were burnt, in addition to six vehicles belonging to the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) and eight Rescue 1122 ambulances.
Furthermore, an Audi showroom was targeted in Lahore, with one car completely burned and the rest left with varying degrees of damage.
He said that while staging protests is the right of every political party, the moment the protestors reached the barricaded cantonment neighbourhood, they “transformed into militants.”
He said that the protestors responsible “attack” on the house of the Lahore Corps Commander were not political workers, but “terrorists.” According to him, approximately 400 people entered the building, while a further 3,400 remained outside.
Naqvi emphasised that the authorities would not rest until every person involved in the incident was arrested. He also declared that the protests were “pre-planned”, leaving no doubt in his mind that the “violence was not spontaneous.”
Naqvi also denounced the recent comments made by former US envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad as “interference not only in Pakistan’s matters but in our army’s matters.”
In response to a journalist’s question, Naqvi called on the federal government to take serious notice of Khalilzad’s statements while cautioning the public not to give them any credence.
Naqvi went on to remark that in his opinion, Khalilzad’s worth was “no more than that of a peon or chaprasi,” and that the former envoy had no current affiliation with the US government, having served solely during the tenure of former US president Donald Trump.
