‘Casualties of marchers’ main bone of contention between govt, PTI

ISLAMABAD: Claims and counter-claims over deaths purportedly caused by law-enforcement action against PTI marchers remained a major bone of contention between the government and the opposition party on Wednesday.

Following their retreat from Islamabad’s Blue Area on Tuesday night, PTI leaders alleged that a number of the party’s supporters had perished, allegedly due to firing by security personnel.

While party sources were claiming the deaths of at least six people, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja claimed in a video message that around 20 party supporters lost their lives.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports circulating on social media — which were also repeated on television by leaders such as Sardar Latif Khosa — put the death toll much higher.

However, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi categorically said that there was no loss of life in the law enforcement action taken to disperse marchers.

Normally, after any major incident such as a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other such happening, health authorities and institutions issue official lists of the number of dead and injured people who were brought to hospital.

But this time around, healthcare authorities have not issued any such lists, and information being shared by journalists and social media users seem to be based on anonymous reports with nothing concrete to back them up.

Whenever the issue of protesters’ deaths was raised before him, Information Minister Ata Tarar always asks, “Where is the proof?”

Dawn spoke to a number of hospital officials who usually release figures to the media, but in the present instance, none were willing to comment on the record.

On nearly every such occasion, hospitals of the federal capital usually establish an information centre to provide lists of those deceased and injured so that their relatives and media can have verified updates. But this time around, hospital administrations are keeping mum.

On their part, government functionaries are claiming that since none of the security personnel on duty was carrying live firearms, there was no question of civilian casualties.

But this has allowed some elements to spread misinformation on social media, which has also found its way to mainstream channels in certain cases.

A purported list of those brought to Islamabad’s Polyclinic hospital, circulated by social media users and picked up by some journalists, showed that at least two persons had died while several others were injured.

However, in a statement on Wednesday morning, the hospital clarified that it had not issued any such list and that reports attributed to the hospital circulating on social media were fake.

A senior doctor from the capital, who did not wish to be named, told Dawn that it was unfortunate that the health ministry was not releasing the details of those injured or killed during the protest.

“In the past, after every incident, whether it was an attack on a five star hotel or a bomb blast in district court, a plane crash or any other occasion, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, we had information centres that shared information, along with lists having names and age of the injured and diseased. [Hospital] heads used to hold press conferences, in which they informed about the number of deceased and injured,” he said.

A health ministry official told Dawn that he was not aware who would share the information. He said the interior minister was holding press conferences to share the official version, but even he had not given any details regarding the number of injured or deceased.

PTI claims and burials

In a video message released on Wednesday, PTI leader Salman Akram Raja denied the official claim that there were no casualties in the law enforcement action against their party’s marchers.

Giving details, Mr Raja said he had received information about at least six victims, namely Muhammad Ilyas, Anees Satti, Malik Safdar Ali, Mubeen Aurangzeb, Abdul Rasheed and Ahmad Wali.

He said he would also share the details of other party workers later on, and lamented that the state was instructing hospitals to destroy records of those people whose bodies or injuries were reported at healthcare facilities in the capital.

Separately, at least four of the men who were said to have lost their lives in the action against the PTI marchers were laid to rest in various parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Wednesday.

Of them, Mubeen Aurangzeb — one of the men named by Salman Akram Raja — was buried in his native village Jandar Bari in UC Phalkot, Abbottabad.

Another victim, identified only as Qadir — a father of seven who worked as a daily wage labourer in Lahore — was interred in his native village of Soban Gali in UC Sherwan.

The funeral prayers were attended by a large number of locals and their coffins were draped in the PTI flag.

Sources said that both victims had died of bullet injuries and no postmortem was conducted on the bodies.

However, no PTI leader turned up to attend the funeral of the victims in Abbottabad, locals said.

Another man, identified as Tariq Khan, was buried in the Nusratkhel area of Martung tehsil in Shangla. He is said to have been run over by a vehicle.

Meanwhile, in Mardan, a PTI worker named Sardar Ali, was laid to rest in his native graveyard in the Babaini area. It should be noted that while Mr Raja mentioned a worker named Malik Safdar Ali as having been slain in the crackdown on protesters, it was not immediately clear if he was referring to the same individual.

Mansoor Malik in Lahore, Rashid Javed in Abbottabad, Umar Bacha in Shangla and Jamal Hoti in Mardan also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2024