PESHAWAR/RAWALPINDI    -    At least eight people died and dozens oth­ers injured including many policemen during countrywide clashes between police and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-In­saf (PTI) party follow­ing the arrest of Imran Khan. Police sources Wednesday said that more than 1,000 pro­testers were arrested during the crackdown.

Hundreds of angry and violent protesters of PTI on Wednesday set the notable build­ing of Radio Pakistan Peshawar and the office of the premier nation­al news agency, Associ­ated Press of Pakistan (APP) on fire, totally destructing the build­ing and the offices.

Station Director Radio Pakistan Peshawar, Ta­hir Hassan and employ­ees said, hundreds of PTI workers who were protesting the arrest of their leader Imran Khan in corruption cases, en­tered the premises of the building after root­ing out the main gate. The PTI workers en­tered various sections of the Radio Pakistan and looted valuable equipment before set­ting the rooms on fire.

Station Director Ta­hir Hassan said that PTI workers had also torched the replica of Chaghi Mountain in the same building the other day, adding that some of the violent protesters also re­sorted to massive aerial firing on the main road outside the Radio Pakistan building.

The unbridled protesters af­ter ransacking and looting the valuable office’s equipments en­tered the other floors of the of­fice and set every room on fire. 

They then reached the fourth floor of the building where the APP office was situated and af­ter stealing valuables set it on fire. During the mayhem, the APP and Radio Pakistan staff­ers somehow managed to save their lives from the horrible at­tack of the violent mob by run­ning out of the building just to see roaring flames and thick black smoke coming out of the windows. Meanwhile another group of angry mob turned to­wards the vehicles’ parked into the shed and destroyed around seven to eight vehicles includ­ing of APP staffers and PBC.

The fire lit by the PTI workers gradually engulfed the whole building including the APP of­fice and destroyed everything in its path. The mob also went to the roof of the Radio Pakistan building where all the spare equipments and furniture was stored and destroyed every­thing by lighting fire.

‘POLICE OFFICE SET ON FIRE IN ISLAMABAD BY PTI PROTESTERS’

The miscreants of the Pa­kistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Wednesday set on fire the office of the Senior Superintendent of Islamabad Police, Industrial Area in the federal capital.

According to a spokesperson of Islamabad Police, the miscre­ants forcefully entered in the of­fice of Senior Superintendent of the Industrial Areas and set on fire the entire record of the Po­lice Station.

The violent protester had also blocked the traffic on Srinagar Highway from G-11 to G-14 and blocked traffic on Islamabad Ex­pressway on Sohan as well.

The protesters attacked the children and women in private vehicles and looted goods from the trucks.

‘LAHORE DIG RIZVI INJURED IN CLASHES’

Caretaker Punjab Minister for Health Dr Javed Akram said on Wednesday that DIG Operations Lahore Ali Nasir Rizvi’s eye, in­jured during protest demon­strations by the Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI) activists on Tuesday, was successfully treat­ed on Wednesday.

He said this during his visit to the Services Hospital where he met the family of the DIG Oper­ations Lahore, who was under­going treatment at the public sector health facility. The care­taker minister also met sur­geons, who performed proce­dure on Ali Nasir Rizvi’s eye. He said that while ensuring peace and order, Ali Rizvi’s eye was badly affected by a hit of a stone. He said that 25 police­men and two civilians had al­ready been discharged after be­ing provided medical aid. 

The health minister said that on the direction of Chief Min­ister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi, the Department of Specialised Health and Medical Education had also formed a special med­ical board for operation of Ali Nasir Rizvi’s eye. Professor of Ophthalmology SIMS Professor Dr Khalid Waheed, Professor of Ophthalmology Professor Dr Khawaja Mohsin Ehsan and re­tired Professor of Ophthalmolo­gy King Edward Medical Univer­sity Professor Dr Asad Aslam Khan were included in the spe­cial medical board.

‘Stone-pelting in Sialkot’

Five cops were injured due to stone-pelting by protesters in Sialkot late at Tuesday night.

District Police Officer (DPO) Sialkot Muhammad Has­san Iqbal, along with Deputy Commissioner Sialkot Adnan Mehmood, visited hospital and met the inquired policemen.

They appreciated the police­men for performing their du­ties diligently, and directed the hospital staff to provide the best medical facilities to the injured.