• Pitched battles erupt after permission for rally cancelled
• DSP among eight personnel hurt as party demands Imran’s release

QUETTA: Fourteen people, inc­l­u­­ding eight cops, were injured when clashes erupted between the police and PTI supporters on Friday after the administration cancelled permission for the party to hold a rally at Railway Hockey Ground (RHG) to demand release of Imran Khan citing security threat.

A senior police official said most of the officers were injured when enraged PTI supporters opened fire and drove a vehicle into them.

PTI had announced a public me­­eting to press for the release Imran Khan, who is detained in Rawal­pindi’s Adiala Jail in various cases.

However, Deputy Commis­sioner Saad Bin Asad cancelled the permission, saying they had received intelligence rep-orts about a terrorist attack in Quetta.

The PTI ignored the threat alert and the warning, and insisted on holding the public meeting. The PTI workers gathered on Zarghoon Road and attempted to reach the RHG which the police had already barricaded.

The administration had also sealed the roads leading to the Red Zone and venue of the public meeting by placing containers on various points.

However, PTI supporters and workers including women tried to enter the Edhi Chowk near RHG. They started pelting the police with stones and restored to gunfire after the police deployed on Zarg­hoon Road and adjacent streets fired tear gas shells to disperse them.

The PTI workers gathered in front of Quetta Railway Station where more people — who had reached from Chaman, Qila Abdullah, Pishin, Ziarat and other areas — joined them.

The PTI supporters again made an attempt to enter at Zarghoon Road to reach the venue of the rally.

However, police blocked their way by resorting to tear-gas shelling and baton charge and dispersed them. Running battles between the two sides left 14 people injured.

A senior police officer received a gunshot.

The clashes intensified when an enraged individual reportedly dro­ve a vehicle into the police, injuring several officers and a journalist.

Police rounded up about a dozen people.

The injured were shifted to civil hospital. “We have received 14 injured in the Trauma Centre. Eight of them are police personnel and six others,” hospital spokesman Dr Wasim Baig told Dawn, adding that most of the injured had received gunshots.

SSP Operations Mohammad Baloch said that police had intervened to prevent the unauthorised rally, leading to a violent response from the PTI supporters, who allegedly fired on the police and attempted to run over officers with a vehicle.

The injured personnel were identified as DSP Maqsood, Abdul Qadeer, Mohammad Waseem, Sanaullah, Izzatullah, Naqibullah, Attaul Mustafa, and Attaullah.

Among the civilians admitted were Atiqullah, Sangeen, Ghulam Rabbani, Mohammad Essa, Abdul Jabbar and Abdul Khaliq.

Three officers and four civilians sustained gunshot wounds, police said.

The dispersed crowed later gathered in front of the Railways Station where PTI leaders, including Dawood Shah, Noor Khan Khilji, Zulikan Jogezai, ex-MNA Munawara Munir and others in their speeches condemned the government for not permitting to hold the public meeting.

They demanded an immediate release of Imran Khan, saying he is the only politician who could lead the country towards progress.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2024