Punjab to buy 150,000 tear gas shells to manage violent protests

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The Punjab government has decided to buy new tear gas shells to manage violent protesters in various districts of Punjab.

According to police sources, 150,000 tear gas shells will be purchased for Lahore, Rawalpindi, and other districts.

The logistics branch of the Punjab Inspector General (IG) will handle the procurement process.

A budget of Rs.10 million has been allocated for this purchase. The process is expected to be completed soon, and the shells will be distributed to the relevant districts.

Sources further revealed that officials from Lahore, Rawalpindi, Attock, Gujranwala, and other districts had requested tear gas shells from the Punjab IG. Tear gas had been heavily used during the two-year-long protests by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), depleting existing stocks.

Previously PTI protesters, responding to a call from their leader Imran Khan, hit the streets in Rawalpindi , igniting intense clashes with police that turned the city into a battleground.

The use of tear gas throughout the day caused considerable distress, with canisters falling into nearby homes and impacting residents, including women and children, who found themselves caught in the crossfire of political dissent.

Media personnel covering the protests were also not spared from the chaos, as they faced the brunt of the police action aimed at dispersing the crowd.

A month ago PTI convoy led by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, heading towards Islamabad’s D-Chowk for a protest faced intense police action as it approached Rawalpindi.

The police resorted to heavy tear gas shelling to disperse the protesters.The incident escalated at Chungi No. 26, where PTI supporters set a crane and a motorcycle on fire.