Khosa reiterates Nov 26 bloodshed claim

PTI leader Sardar Latif Khosa has reiterated his party's claim that the government authorities are trying to hide the atrocities they allegedly committed on November 26 during a crackdown launched to disperse the PTI workers who had converged on Islamabad to stage a protest march.

Addressing a news conference in Punjab's provincial capital on Saturday, Khosa said political workers can deal with teargas shelling or baton-charging but no one can withstand direct fire.

Likening the events that transpired on the night of November 26 to the tragedy of Karbala, the PTI leader said authorities treated his party workers like Modi's government treats Kashmiris or Israel treats the people of Gaza and Palestine.

"Our culprits are Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Information Minister Atta Tarar, and Defense Minister Khawaja Asif as well as Punjab IG, DIG and SSP," he said.

He said the world witnessed how three uniformed men threw one of the PTI workers who was offering prayers off a container. That, he said, was the height of fascism.

"They [law enforcing agencies] were given shoot-on-sight orders, something that only happens for enemies in a battlefield. These bullets were not fired by divine forces; they were fired by the state," he said.