Pakistan ends lockdown after PTI calls off rallies, PM Sharif claims protests cost PKR 190 billion loss daily

The minister further noted that sectors like IT and telecommunications face their own economic challenges, with shutdowns disrupting social and digital activities.

Islamabad: Pakistani ended the lockdown and authorities arrested nearly 1,000 supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan who stormed the capital this week to demand his release, the city's police chief said on Wednesday. Khan's aides alleged, without immediately providing evidence, that hundreds had suffered gunshot wounds during chaotic scenes overnight in the heart of Islamabad as police dispersed protesters led by Khan's wife who had broken through security barricades. They also said thousands had been arrested.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's benchmark share index KSE jumped more than 5%, after falling 3.6% on Tuesday on news of clashes. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a televised cabinet meeting that the struggling economy could ill afford a paralysing protest that had cost it 190 billion rupees ($680 million) a day.  The South Asian country slashed interest rates by 250 basis points earlier in November in a bid to revive a sluggish economy amid a big drop in the rate of inflation. Inflation clocked in at 7.2% in October, a sharp drop from a multi-decade high of nearly 40% in May 2023.

Protests causing hindrances in tax collection

Earlier, Pakistan's finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, outlined the substantial economic losses caused by opposition-led protests. Addressing a press conference on Monday, Aurangzeb stressed the significant financial toll these protests are taking, calling for political stability to protect the nation's economy. He revealed that the daily financial damage from opposition-led protests and lockdowns exceeds PKR 190 billion, as reported by ARY News. He explained that these disruptions interfere with tax collection, hinder business operations, and negatively affect exports. Additional costs are also incurred for maintaining law and order during the protests.

The finance minister further noted that sectors like IT and telecommunications face their own economic challenges, with shutdowns disrupting social and digital activities. A report by Pakistan's Ministry of Finance showed that protests resulted in a daily GDP loss of PKR 144 billion, with export reductions contributing PKR 26 billion to the losses and a drop in foreign direct investment costing an additional PKR 3 billion.

More than 1,000 arrested

Islamabad's police chief, Ali Rizvi, denied that live ammunition had been used during the operation, which he said police had conducted alongside paramilitary forces. Rizvi said 600 protesters had been arrested in Tuesday's operation, bringing the total since the protest sit-in began on Sunday to 954. He said weapons, including automatic rifles and tear gas guns, were seized from the protest site where thousands had gathered. The site was cleared in a matter of hours.

Ali Amin Gandapur, a top Khan aide and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province who was a part of the protests and fled when the operation began, accused the authorities of using excessive force against protesters who he said were peaceful. He said "hundreds" had sustained bullet wounds. Pakistan's information minister and an Islamabad police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on the allegation.

"Both Imran Khan's wife and I were attacked directly," Gandapur told a press conference in the city of Mansehra, in the province he rules.

Khan's wife Bushra Khan escaped unhurt. Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), had said she would address the press conference with Gandapur, but she did not appear even though the event was delayed by hours. PTI spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari PTI said earlier that the protest seeking Khan's release had been called off, citing what he called "the massacre". But Gandapur said the protest would continue until Khan himself called it off.

Six killed in clashes

At least six people - four paramilitary soldiers and two protesters - had been killed in the protests before the overnight clashes, according to PTI. But the office of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi denied this. "As of now, no death has been reported, and the claims circulating regarding any such incidents are baseless and unverified," it said in a statement. Visiting protest sites on Wednesday, Naqvi said law enforcement agencies had successfully cleared protesters from the site of the sit-in and other areas of the capital.

He called on PTI to provide any evidence of the firing of live ammunition by security forces and said it had not provided any details of the eaths of its supporters. Geo News and broadcaster ARY both said security forces had raided the site in central Islamabad in complete darkness, and that a barrage of tear gas had been fired. The protesters were almost completely dispersed, they added.

On Wednesday, city workers were clearing debris and moving away some of the shipping containers authorities had used to block roads around the capital.

The red zone - the fortified area that is home to parliament, the diplomatic enclave and other key buildings - was empty of protesters, but several of their vehicles were left behind, including the remains of a truck used by Bushra Khan that appeared charred by flames. The PTI had planned on maintaining a sit-in in the red zone until Khan, who has been in jail since August last year, was freed.

(With inputs from agency)

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