The recent political drama that unfolded in Pakistan took a violent turn on Tuesday after videos of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party leaders and lawmakers supporting the newly elected government clashed with each other at a private hotel in Islamabad.
Videos have gone viral on social media platforms in which it was seen that PTI dissident lawmaker Noor Alam Khan thrashing an elderly man for calling him a “turncoat” and abused him at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Reportedly, Noor Alam Khan, along with PPP leaders Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Nadeem Afzal Chan and Faisal Karim Kundi, was having an iftar dinner at the hotel where the elderly citizen, who is a PTI worker, was also present.
In the video, rebel PTI leader Noor Alam Khan and PPP leader Mustafa Khokhar can be seen hitting the elderly citizen. PPP leader Kundi was seen picking up a glass and throwing it at the elderly, who responded in kind by throwing an object back at him. As the elderly tried to retaliate, Khokhar closed in on him and punched him in the head.
#Pakistan At the Iftar dinner at Marriott Hotel Islamabad, some people insulted PTI rebel National Assembly member Noor Alam and PPP leaders Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Nadeem Afzal chan and Faisal kareem Kundi which later turned into a fight !!! pic.twitter.com/C0NB0TMfUc
— Ghulam Abbas Shah (@ghulamabbasshah) April 12, 2022
The elderly man was thrown off balance and floored as Khan, and the other PPP leaders continued to beat him up before they were separated.
In another video, one can hear abuses such as ‘pen-chor’ (a variant of a popular abuse in North India as well), being hurled towards each other.
Brawl breaks out between supporters of Imran and Sharifs. Pen-chor pen-chor and objects hurled at each other. pic.twitter.com/dKIOmehmbT
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) April 12, 2022
Another video of the same incident from another angle shows bystanders trying to pacify the politicians while trying to make sense of the scene unfold in front of them.
What sort of culture Niazi is promoting, right in aftaar time at marriot hotel islamabad a person came to a table where MP,s from ppp @Mustafa_PPP , nadeem chan and others were sitting , he started abusing them while families and children were sitting all around 1/2 pic.twitter.com/W9WN1z9bS5
— furqan khalil (@Afurqankhalil) April 12, 2022
Following the incident, PTI dissident Noor Alam registered a complaint against the elderly man. In his complaint, Alam Khan claimed that he was at the hotel with his friends, including Khokhar, Chan, Kundi and Sheikh Waqas Akram, when an unidentified man began abusing him and threatened to kill him.
PTI hold demonstrations against opposition parties after Imran Khan’s ouster
Meanwhile, several thousand workers of the PTI party have held demonstrations across the country to protest against the installation of an ‘imported government’ at the centre.
Protest rallies were organised in several cities like Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Malakand, Multan Khanewal, Khyber, Jhang and Quetta, with party supporters shouting slogans against the united opposition.
The demonstrations had come after Imran Khan had said the resignation marked the beginning of a “freedom struggle” and called his removal a “foreign conspiracy of regime change” in Pakistan.
In an attempt to galvanise his supporters, he had said, “it is always the people who protect their own sovereignty and democracy”.
Following Imran Khan’s ouster, Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif took oath as the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan on Monday. Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani administered the oath of office to 70-year-old Shehbaz Shehbaz in President Dr Arif Alvi’s absence, who went on ‘sick’ leave ahead of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader’s inauguration.
