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Pakistani Protesters Briefly Take Over State TV Building Pakistani Protesters Briefly Take Over Headquarters of State Television
(about 14 hours later)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani troops took control of security at the headquarters of the state-run television network on Monday after hundreds of demonstrators stormed the building and forced the network to temporarily halt broadcasting. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s political crisis deepened on Monday when protesters stormed the headquarters of the state-run television network, causing a temporary lapse in transmission until army troops regained control and secured the building.
Antigovernment demonstrators armed with sticks and batons ransacked the Pakistan Television building in central Islamabad on Monday morning, smashed vehicles in the parking lots and cut transmission cables in the newsrooms. PTV officials said that at least 20 cameras were missing. Hundreds of people, many armed with sticks, ransacked the Pakistan Television building in central Islamabad, smashing vehicles in the parking lots and cutting transmission cables in the newsrooms. The network said that at least 14 cameras had been stolen.
The dramatic scenes were the latest escalation of the country’s political chaos, which turned from peaceful protest into violent clashes on the streets of the capital over the weekend, posing a growing threat to the stability of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government. The dramatic scenes underscored the growing sense of chaos in the Pakistani capital, which has been paralyzed for more than two weeks by protesters calling on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign. Mr. Sharif has refused to leave office, but to help bring the capital under control, he has been forced to rely on the military — which ousted him in a 1999 coup.
Thousands of protesters loyal to the opposition politician Imran Khan and the cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul Qadri have gathered near the Parliament and the prime minister’s official residence in the city center, having burst through police lines over the weekend amid violent clashes that left at least three people dead and hundreds wounded. Hours after the attack on the television headquarters, Mr. Sharif held a two-hour meeting with the army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif (the two men are not related), prompting speculation in some local media outlets that the prime minister had been asked to resign. The government and the army immediately denied the reports; in a Twitter post the military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, called them “baseless.”
The protesters who attacked the Pakistan Television building on Monday — a development that was reported by the network’s journalists, just before channels went off air — appeared to be mostly in Mr. Qadri’s camp, as evidenced by flags for Mr. Qadri’s party and slogans of support for him. The protesters are led by the opposition politician Imran Khan and the cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul Qadri, who accuse Mr. Sharif of election rigging and who led thousands of supporters into central Islamabad on Aug. 15. After two weeks of heated speeches and political theatrics, the standoff turned violent over the weekend when thousands of demonstrators burst through police lines amid clashes that left at least three people dead and hundreds wounded.
Now groups of protesters are camped on the lawn of the country’s Parliament and outside the prime minister’s official residence — a humiliating image for Mr. Sharif, who only 15 months ago came to power when his party scored a landslide election victory.
“We want a revolution,” said Muhammad Zulqarnain, a 25-year-old farmer from Punjab Province wearing a gas mask around his neck and holding a metal bar outside the Parliament building. “We will not leave before we achieve victory.”
Mr. Khan, a former cricket star, has had the media spotlight largely to himself since the protests began. Yet Mr. Qadri’s fervent following, which is drawn from his countrywide religious network, has provided the impetus for the protests. The men who attacked Pakistan Television on Monday appeared to be mostly in Mr. Qadri’s camp, as evidenced by their flags and slogans.
They met little resistance as they entered the building, and they cheered the army troops as they left. Some demonstrators pulled a portrait of Mr. Sharif from the building and beat it with their shoes.They met little resistance as they entered the building, and they cheered the army troops as they left. Some demonstrators pulled a portrait of Mr. Sharif from the building and beat it with their shoes.
Hours later, Mr. Sharif held a two-hour meeting with the army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif (who is not related to him), prompting reports on at least one local television station that the prime minister had been asked to resign. The government and the army immediately denied the reports; in a Twitter post the military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa called them “baseless”. The army’s role as mediator has heightened anxiety in a country where the military has a history of seizing power during times of political strife — fears that were stoked by a prominent defector from Mr. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party, who warned on Monday that a slow-motion coup was taking place.
The Defense Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, spoke of tougher government action against the protesters. “If not mass arrests, selective use of force can be used,” Mr. Asif told Reuters in an interview at his house. In a sharply worded speech outside the Parliament, the defector, Javed Hashmi, the party’s former president, accused his former leader of taking orders from the military and its intelligence agencies. “He said we cannot move without the military,” Mr. Hashmi said, referring to Mr. Khan.
Mr. Khan’s and Mr. Qadri’s supporters have been camped in the capital for more than two weeks in a bid to force Mr. Sharif to resign. The violence at the weekend, in which protesters throwing paving stones clashed with police officers firing rubber bullets, led to a public intervention by the country’s military, which has a long history of seizing power in Pakistan during times of political strife. Hours later, the military rejected Mr. Hashmi’s accusations. The “army is an apolitical institution and has expressed its unequivocal support for democracy,” the military said in a statement.
After an emergency meeting of its high command on Sunday night, the military issued a statement urging the country’s political leaders to find a peaceful solution to the crisis. But the military also warned the government against the use of force, which could limit Mr. Sharif’s options for ending the turmoil. Although the armed forces have resisted the urge to mount a coup, many Pakistani analysts believe that the military is using the crisis to erode Mr. Sharif’s authority. The two sides have a notably troubled relationship. Since Mr. Sharif’s return to power 14 years after the military ousted him, he and the armed forces have repeatedly clashed over talks with the Taliban, relations with India and the treason trial of the former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
Until the weekend, most analysts believed that the military would take advantage of the crisis to reduce Mr. Sharif’s authority, rather than oust him in a coup. The two sides have had a difficult relationship. Mr. Sharif’s last stint in power ended with a military takeover in 1999, and he has frequently clashed with the military leadership over policy issues since he became prime minister for a third time in June 2013. Mr. Sharif, however, has also undermined himself. As the street protests neared in the early summer, he resorted to violence instead of negotiation to deter Mr. Khan and Mr. Qadri. The police killed at least 10 supporters of Mr. Qadri during clashes in June, lending his movement a sense of wounded legitimacy in the eyes of many Pakistanis.
But the growing chaos in the capital, Islamabad, and the sense of drift surrounding Mr. Sharif’s government have created a fluid and unpredictable situation. Mr. Sharif still enjoys the backing of most of the opposition, which fears that the demonstrations could upend the country’s fragile democracy. Yet the prime minister’s failure to find a negotiated end to the protests has badly eroded his authority and created a palpable sense of drift.
In a bid to bolster his political standing, Mr. Sharif has called an emergency joint session of the lower and upper houses of Parliament for Tuesday. Mr. Sharif says he is willing to accede, at least in part, to the demands for electoral reform put forward by Mr. Khan and Mr. Qadri. But he has insisted that he cannot, under any circumstances, accept the calls for his resignation.
The government enjoys the backing of most of the opposition, which fears that Mr. Khan’s protests will upend the country’s democracy. But Mr. Sharif’s failure to find a negotiated end to the crisis, and the spreading violence in Islamabad, have badly eroded his authority. In the hope of bolstering his standing, the prime minister has called an emergency joint session of the lower and upper houses of Parliament for Tuesday. But if the chaos on the streets continues — during the worst violence, demonstrators threw pavement stones as they clashed with the police, who fired rubber bullets — it could prove hard to attract a strong showing in Parliament.
Mr. Sharif says he is willing to accede, at least in part, to the demands for electoral reform put forward by Mr. Khan and Mr. Qadri, as well as to allow an audit of the votes in some constituencies from last year’s election. But Mr. Sharif says he cannot under any circumstances accept the protesters’ call for his immediate resignation. The attack on the television headquarters was symbolically significant because many Pakistanis have strong memories of the last coup, when soldiers seized control of the same building. Mr. Khan and Mr. Qadri denied any involvement in the assault, drawing a disbelieving response from Mr. Sharif’s party.
The demonstrators left the PTV headquarters by noon on Monday, after an army officer urged them to vacate the building peacefully. Several shouted slogans in favor of the army as they trickled out of the building.
Athar Farooq Buttar, the director of news at the television station, said the attack appeared to have been “planned.”
“We did not expect this kind of attack,” he said. “The administration exhibited restraint, but stick-wielding mobs entered the building from different entrances. Their intention was to stop the transmission.”
Mr. Buttar said the protesters first cut transmission at PTV World, the English-language news channel, and then at PTV News, the local-language service.
As the protesters broke into the building, one news anchor provided a running commentary of the attack on his newsroom. “We remain calm right now. The important thing is there’s no reason to panic,” he said. Then the station went off the air.
“We were surprised about their technical know-how,” said Mr. Buttar. “They appeared to be common people but they knew what to do.”
Then the protesters ransacked the dining area and took away food items, he added.
“Nawaz Sharif is prime minister today. Tomorrow someone else will be the prime minister,” said Babar Chaudhary, an anchor at PTV. “This is a damage to the state.”
Both Mr. Khan and Mr. Qadri claimed that the attackers were not their supporters. But in brief speeches Monday, Mr. Qadri congratulated his followers for their actions.
Mr. Qadri’s group is camped at the outer gates of the prime minister’s official residence and the entrance to the Pakistan Secretariat, a massive compound that includes government offices.
Government officials strongly condemned the attack on the television building.
“Both Qadri and Khan are saying these are not their people,” said Marvi Memon, a governing party lawmaker. “Then who are they?”“Both Qadri and Khan are saying these are not their people,” said Marvi Memon, a governing party lawmaker. “Then who are they?”
The defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, indicated the government was preparing to take tougher action against the protesters. “If not mass arrests, selective use of force can be used,” Mr. Asif told Reuters in an interview at his home on Monday.
But the protesters insisted they were going nowhere. “We will follow our leader’s orders,” said Usman Ahmad, a 23-year-old barber from Sialkot who wore a badge with Mr. Qadri’s image. “If he says ‘go back’, we will retreat. If he says ‘move ahead’, we will obey the command.”