Pakistan security forces accused of pushing ‘praying’ protester off 25ft-tall container tower

Security forces in Pakistan were seen pushing a protester off a 25ft-tall tower of shipping containers during a demonstration that saw nearly 1,000 people arrested.

The incident captured on camera and widely circulated on social media happened as thousands of supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan converged in Islamabad to demand his release from prison.

Top aides of Mr Khan claimed security forces launched a brutal crackdown on protesters and opened live fire, leading to the deaths of dozens of people and scores were injured as war-like scenes emerged from the heart of the capital.

One of the dramatic videos showed a man seemingly praying on top of a huge wall of containers erected to block protesters from reaching their destination.

Forces in riot gear are seen following him to the top, surrounding him, and then pushing him off the edge. The man is seeing hanging on to the edge of the container before falling.

Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said: “An innocent, unarmed protester was seen praying on a container when an armed paramilitary officer brutally pushed him off from a height equivalent to three stories.”

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The condition of the man after his fall from the containers remains unknown. A PTI source said the party was still investigating what happened to him, and eyewitness reports that he died at the scene could not be verified.

The Independent has reached out to the Ministry of Interior for a comment.

On Wednesday, police in Islamabad said 600 protesters had been arrested following Tuesday’s operation, bringing the total since the protest sit-in began on Sunday to 954.

Mr Khan’s aides alleged, without providing evidence, that hundreds had suffered gunshot wounds during chaotic scenes overnight in the heart of Islamabad as police dispersed protesters led by Mr Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi who had broken through security barricades.

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However, 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.

He added that the police seized weapons, including automatic rifles and tear gas guns, from the protest site where thousands had gathered.

Ali Amin Gandapur, a top Khan aide and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, who was a part of the protests, accused the authorities of using excessive force against protesters who he said were peaceful.

Mr Gandapur who was part of the convoy that had Bushra Bibi said they were directly attacked. The PTI officials said the truck in which she was travelling was set on fire but both Bushra Bibi and Mr Gandapur were removed from the convoy and taken to the PTI stronghold Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

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

PTI spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari said earlier that the protest seeking Mr Khan’s release had been called off, citing what he called “the massacre”. But Mr Gandapur said the protest would continue until Mr Khan himself called it off.

Mr Khan who has been in jail for the last year has called his supporters to “fight till the end” in what he dubbed as “final call” for his release.

The former leader is facing more than 150 cases many of which have been overturned or scrapped. He has called the charges against him a political vendetta after he accused the army of his ouster in 2022 in a no-confidence vote at the behest of the US. The army and the US have both denied the allegations.