In an interesting development, it appears the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf has gone back on it’s claims of casualties amongst its ranks in light of today’s “Thanksgiving Day.”
On Tuesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi had claimed that two party workers had been killed due to tear gas shelling by police to prevent the November 2 ‘lockdown’.
However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak denied the party’s own previous claims in a press release by saying that the party had not suffered any loss of life in the protests.
KP government spokesman Mushtaq Ghani confirmed the above, saying that no PTI worker had died as a result of shelling or due to the protests. “This was just a rumour,” he said.
Earlier, Peshawar Nazim Mohammad Asim Khan had claimed that a party worker, 39-year-old Inamullah, president of the Pehtal UC had died after sustaining injuries in the Swabi tear gas shelling.
PTI workers alleged that Inamullah, who they said was at the front of the convoy clashing with police, was not treated in time because of a delay in the movement of ambulances due to roadblocks.
However, a family member of Inamullah said that the senior PTI leadership falsely’ claimed that a mentally-challenged person, who committed suicide in Peshawar last month, was a party worker and died of police shelling in Swabi on Monday, a local media outfit has reported.
A Peshawar police official said a police team that visited Inamullah’s family home was told that the man was ill and had committed suicide. The family categorically denied that he had died in the protest.
