"Chaos in D-Chowk: From Blocked Entry to Forced Stay – What Happened Tuesday Night in Islamabad?"

Shahzad Malik

Ahadah, BBC Urdu.com, Islamabad

Burned trucks, broken passenger and private vehicles, shattered glass on the road, Imran Khan posters on the ground, tear gas shells, a few shoes and a pile of garbage... These are the scenes from Islamabad's D-Chowk on Wednesday morning, which has dominated the country's politics for three days and where, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, the PTI protesters were to sit on a dharna 'until their demands are met'.

But on Tuesday evening, the place was presenting a different scene.

Where hundreds of enthusiastic PTI protesters, slogans demanding Imran Khan's release, the main container of Bushra Bibi and Ali Amin entering from the wrong side and loud songs playing to excite the workers, workers climbing on containers and dancing were present.

By the evening of November 26, a large number of PTI protesters were present in the Blue Area of ​​Islamabad, who had begun to hope that just as they had reached the Red Zone of Islamabad by removing roadblocks, the government would now be forced to accept the PTI demands and PTI founder Imran Khan would be released soon.

The joy on the faces of these workers at reaching the final destination of the march, D-Chowk, did not even show the fatigue of covering a distance of about 72 hours and clashing with security forces at several places along the way.

But as the evening shadows turned into the darkness of night and the chill turned into cold, the attitude of the federal capital administration also turned cold and harsh.

The administration had decided to conduct a ‘decisive operation’ against the protesters.

‘First the Blue Area and surrounding markets were closed’

From 5 pm to 9 pm on November 26, the situation in the Red Zone of Islamabad was normal. Then after 9 pm, some movement was seen by the security forces.

In the first phase, the district administration of Islamabad closed all the markets around the Blue Area, including Melody Food Street, Aabpara, Supermarket, Sitara Market and Jinnah Supermarket.

Along with this, all the entrances and exits of the Blue Area and Islamabad were once again blocked by erecting barriers.

Such a matter was not limited to Islamabad alone, but the roads of Rawalpindi that connect Islamabad with Rawalpindi were also closed.

'Some government officials asked to evacuate the area immediately'

According to eyewitnesses present on Tuesday night, the lights in the Blue Area and its surrounding areas were suddenly switched off at 11 pm.

Journalist Naeem Asghar, who was there to cover the demonstration, said that “after some time after the lights were switched off, some government officials came to them and asked them to vacate the area immediately.”

Naeem Asghar said that immediately after this, the police intensified their tear gas shelling on the protesters present there and there was so much smoke in the area that it became difficult to breathe there.

He says that during this time, he also heard gunfire in the Blue Area.

Journalist Naeem Asghar said that the police had taken over the entire responsibility of dispersing the protesters and arresting them.

"Before starting the operation, the police had surrounded the protesters from all sides and during this time, when the arrest of the protesters started, some protesters managed to escape taking advantage of the darkness."

According to him, the police had planned to arrest these people so that if they managed to escape from being arrested in the Blue Area, they could be caught while fleeing.

‘Policemen were standing in darkness’

According to an Islamabad police official, ‘Policemen were standing in places where there was almost no light.’

The police official says that this policy of the police was successful and with this method, more than 300 protesters were arrested from different areas of the city when they were trying to escape from the Blue Area.

According to Islamabad police officials, more than 900 protesters have been arrested, including more than three dozen Afghan citizens, according to Islamabad police.

Islamabad police say that the arrested persons have not only been kept in different police stations of Islamabad but also in the CIA building, which has been declared a sub-jail by the Islamabad district administration.

Another eyewitness, Naveed Ahmed, who was present in the Blue Area on Tuesday night, said that when the operation against the protesters was launched, several vehicles present in the Blue Area were damaged and in particular, the container in which Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur were travelling was set on fire.

When asked whether the damage was caused by the protesters or the security forces, he said that it was dark in the area and in such a situation it cannot be said who were the ones who vandalised the vehicles.

Decision on ‘decisive operation’ against protesters

According to an Interior Ministry official, an important meeting was held in the Interior Ministry before the operation against these protesters, in which the Islamabad Police Chief, Regional Police Officer Rawalpindi, DPO Attock and DPO Chakwal participated, in which it was decided that the decisive operation against the protesters would be led by police commandos, while Rangers personnel would provide them with support.

According to eyewitnesses, the police and Rangers completed this operation in one and a half to two hours and the entire Red Zone was cleared of protesters. There was no information about Bushra Bibi and Ali Amin Gandapur during this operation.

There were conflicting speculations on social media in this regard, including claims of their arrest.

Conflicting claims are also emerging regarding the setting fire to the main container of the march. The government says that the protesters not only set fire to the container but also damaged other vehicles, while the PTI leadership is blaming the law enforcement agencies for this.

In addition, the PTI leadership is also claiming that several workers were killed during the operation, while the government is denying these claims.

After the operation to disperse the PTI workers was completed on Tuesday night, the officials of the Islamabad Development Authority (CDA) were deployed to clean up the area, and they cleared the area by Wednesday morning.

The police have registered cases against the arrested persons in various police stations of Islamabad, while some of them have also been presented in local courts to obtain physical remand.

When one of the accused was presented in a local court in Islamabad to obtain physical remand, he said to the media representatives, “These are strange people, they first do not let them come and then do not let them go.”

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