UPDATE 3 - Pakistani forces launch crackdown against protesters

UPDATES WITH QUOTES BY INTERIOR MINISTER, INJURED IN KARACHI

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) - At least 130 people including 45 security personnel were wounded on Saturday during a crackdown on protesters, emergency officials said.

The protesters had been blocking the main entrance from Rawalpindi city to capital Islamabad since early November.

"So far 130 injured including 45 police and FC personnel have been shifted to a hospital," Dr. Altaf Husain, spokesman for Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, told Anadolu Agency over the phone.

The crackdown came after the country’s top court ordered their removal, after protests paralyzed life in the twin cities and the last of a long series of deadlines lapsed without response from the agitating parties.

The protests began on Nov. 8 with demands that the government restore a key clause about the finality of Prophet Mohammad under the Election Laws.

The clause was restored by the lower house of the parliament last week -- despite that the protests by Sunni-Barelivi group Tehrik-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool (Movement to Restore Finality of the Prophet) continued.

In a legislation billed last month, which was actually meant to pave way for the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to return as the ruling party head, following his ouster by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers scandal this July -- the clause was modified, something which the government called a “clerical mistake”.

- Limited access to social, news media

According to the restored clause, the voters at the time of registration for the general elections have to declare that they believe in the finality of Prophet Mohammad, failing which, their names will be included in a separate list for Ahmedis or Qadianis -- a minority sect which was declared non-Muslim by the parliament in 1974.

The religious groups blamed the ruling Pakistani Muslim League (Nawaz) party, mainly the Law Minister Zahid Hamid for “deliberately” modifying the clauses to favor the minority sect.

On Friday, the local administration had issued a final warning for the protesters to end their sit-in till Saturday morning or face strict action.

Local television footage showed security personnel fire tear gas shells on protesters to disperse them -- while the protesters pelted stones.

Angry mobs set fire to four police vans, local broadcaster Geo News reported.

Later during the day, news channels went off air, after a notification from Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) barred them from live telecasting the security operation.

Meanwhile, the government also shut down Facebook, Twitter and Youtube in Islamabad and Rawalpindi areas to block coverage of the security operation.

- Army chief urges peace

Security forces arrested 150 protesters and shifted them to different police stations in Islamabad.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is closely monitoring the situation and he has already directed the concerned authorities to handle the situation peacefully, according to his spokesman.

In a tweet, the Director General Inter Service Public Relation (ISPR), Pakistan Army's media wing, said that Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa telephoned the prime minister and suggested that the sit-in be ended peacefully.

The protesters also attacked former Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan's house in Rawalpindi and broke the main gate of his house.

Scores of protesters also came out on the roads in different cities, including Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and other cities of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces to protest against the crackdown taking place in Islamabad.

In Karachi, the country's commercial hub, 28 injured were brought to the state-run Jinnah Post Medical Center, according to a hospital spokesman.

Speaking to state-run Pakistan Television Network, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said: "We have already shown restraint. Police has been ordered to use tear gas to disperse the protesters."

He added that the government was ready for dialogue with the agitating parties.