Protests by Imran Khan's party caused Rs 240 million damage, report says

ISLAMABAD: Protests by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party over the weekend in the national capital caused damages worth Rs 240 million to private and public property, a media report said on Wednesday.

The damage assessment was mentioned in a report that the Islamabad Inspector General's office submitted to the Islamabad chief commissioner following the violent protests by supporters and workers of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) over the weekend.

After the government introduced constitutional amendments, Khan -- who has been incarcerated at the Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi for more than a year -- gave a call for the protest rally demanding independence of the judiciary. The party, which also demanded Khan's release, chose D-Chowk as the venue, the same spot he and his party had occupied during the 126-day long sit-in protest in 2014 in the federal capital.

Quoting the top police official's report, Geo News said, 441 safe city cameras worth Rs 140 million were damaged during the protest. Also damaged were 10 police vehicles, 31 motorcycles, and 51 gas masks.

The protestors also inflicted damages on three private vehicles and a crane, Geo News said, adding, the report also mentioned that one policeman was killed and 31 sustained injuries.

It also quoted Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb as saying during a televised speech on Tuesday that the Economic Advisory Wing of his ministry assessed the economic losses of the protest at a whopping Rs 190 billion owing to the halt of economic activities.

As Pakistan prepared to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting next week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said Khan's party will not be allowed to repeat the 2014 sit-in that had prompted cancellation of the Chinese president's visit then.

The PTI protest paralysed life from Friday till at least Sunday in Rawalpindi and Islamabad as the twin cities were sealed off with containers to prevent the demonstrators from entering. There was a widespread internet ban too. Similar situation prevailed in Lahore Saturday onwards.