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Hidden victims of Pakistan’s latest political clash

06-12-2024

By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report

ISLAMABAD: Anees Shehzad’s death certificate says he died from a pelvic injury and gunshot wound.

He was killed while protesting alongside thousands of supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the capital, Islamabad, on November 26, following clashes with security forces. Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) insists that he was among a dozen civilians killed in police firing that day.

However, according to the government, no protester was killed, not even Shehzad, 20.

A week after PTI members laid siege to Islamabad and were subsequently dispersed in a late-night operation by law enforcement agencies, the government and the PTI are locked in a tense standoff over conflicting accounts of the number of casualties during those clashes.

While some PTI leaders initially said hundreds of supporters had been killed, party chairman Gohar Ali Khan later said the number of dead protesters stood at 12.

Attaullah Tarar, the federal information minister, mocked that discrepancy in a message on social media platform X on Tuesday. “These bodies will only be found on TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp. They are playing politics of jokes and lies with the nation,” Tarar wrote in his message in Urdu.

Earlier, on November 28, during a press interaction with foreign media, Tarar maintained that there were no deaths during the protests.

He cited statements from Islamabad’s two largest public hospitals PIMS and Poly Clinic stating they had received no bodies. “The health department has issued two separate statements confirming this,” he said in response to a question from media.

Media spoke to the families of four PTI supporters, including Shehzad, killed in the clashes with security forces, and also reached out to Tarar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Rana Sanaullah, the political adviser to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, to seek their comments on the claims and counterclaims. However, no one in the authority responded.

The PTI has now released the names of the 12 supporters it says were killed between November 24 and 26, with at least 10 reportedly suffering bullet wounds. Among them was Shehzad, from Kotli Sattian, a small town in Punjab province.

Shehzad’s cousin, Nafees Satti, described the young man as a devoted PTI supporter who insisted on joining the rally. “We all tried to stop him, but he was adamant because Imran Khan, his political idol, had called for it,” Satti told media.

The demonstrators, led by Bushra Bibi, Khan’s wife, were demanding a reversal of February’s election results, the release of political prisoners, including Khan, and the annulment of a constitutional amendment allowing government oversight of senior judicial appointments.

On the afternoon of November 26, hundreds of PTI supporters managed to reach the D-Chowk, the protest’s focal point near Islamabad’s government buildings, where they set fire to police kiosks, chanted slogans in favor of Khan and waved party flags. Shehzad was one of them.

The protesters soon encountered paramilitary forces using tear gas and rubber bullets. They also allegedly fired live rounds, though the government denies it.

Shehzad’s family received a call from Poly Clinic at about 4pm, informing them that he had been critically injured. By the time they arrived, Anees had succumbed to his injuries. “It’s been a week, but his mother and youngest brother are still in shock,” Satti said. “His brother keeps fainting now and then. Our entire family is devastated.”

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