Pakistani military urges clashes' end

A Pakistani protester throws tear gas shell back towards police during a protest in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014. Pakistani police clash with scattered pockets of anti-government protesters trying to advance on the prime minister’s residence after a night of violence that saw hundreds wounded and the first death Sunday in more than two weeks of demonstrations. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)
A Pakistani protester throws tear gas shell back towards police during a protest in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014. Pakistani police clash with scattered pockets of anti-government protesters trying to advance on the prime minister’s residence after a night of violence that saw hundreds wounded and the first death Sunday in more than two weeks of demonstrations. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

ISLAMABAD -- Anti-government protesters armed with slingshots and hammers clashed repeatedly with police Sunday in the Pakistani capital, and the powerful military cautioned the prime minister against further use of force in the crisis that has triggered the biggest challenge yet to his authority.

At least three people were killed and nearly 400 admitted to hospitals in clashes that started Saturday night and continued to boil over Sunday, officials said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met with top advisers seeking a way to ease the violence, which has raised the stakes in the two-week sit-in led by opposition politician Imran Khan and fiery cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri. They want the prime minister to step down over their allegations of widespread voting fraud in the election that brought him into office last year in the country's first democratic transfer of power.

Sharif's party was elected in a landslide in which observers found no evidence of fraud. The prime minister has refused to step down, and negotiators have tried to persuade Qadri and Khan to end their protests.

The military weighed in after a late Sunday meeting, saying that it had "serious concern" about the crisis and the "violent turn it has taken."

"Further use of force will only aggravate the problem," military leaders said in a statement that called on political figures to resolve their differences swiftly.

They also reiterated their support for democracy and said the situation should be resolved "without wasting any time and without recourse to violent means."

But speculation has been growing that the military might step in if the country slides deeper into instability and violence because of the deadlock between Sharif and his political opponents.

The demonstrations in Islamabad's Red Zone -- a high-security area that includes key government buildings and diplomatic missions -- were mostly peaceful until late Saturday, when protesters headed toward the prime minister's residence.

Protesters had used wire cutters to break through a barbed-wire fence surrounding the Parliament building Saturday night and used a truck to ram a metal fence, gaining entrance to the main building. The protesters stopped their advance after troops stationed inside the building issued a warning.

The police used rubber bullets and tear gas in their clashes with baton- and stick-wielding protesters, government officials said.

Waseem Khawaja, a hospital spokesman, said one protester had fallen into a ditch and died of a heart attack. Two others had arrived at the hospital wounded and later died of their injuries.

Hundreds of people were arrested, said Islamabad Police Chief Khalid Khattak. There were scattered clashes Sunday morning, and protesters appeared to regroup later in the afternoon.

"We have the authority to fight and protect all the important installations of the city," said Sultan Azam Temuri, a spokesman for the Islamabad police. "We engaged with them, and they attacked us with salt and red-chili powder water filled in bottles. These people were definitely prepared."

By evening, large groups of protesters were located in pockets around the Parliament building and some had spread into other parts of the city, said police official Amir Paracha. He said they had taken shields from police and were wielding iron rods, batons, stones and bricks.

The injured included women, children, journalists and police officers who had been hurt by tear gas shells, batons and rubber bullets, said Dr. Javed Akram, who heads the capital's main hospital.

Railways Minister Saad Rafiq said the government would investigate the conduct of officers who beat up some journalists.

'Death or freedom'

In a news release, Sharif said he would convene a joint session of Parliament on Tuesday to address the crisis.

His government "condemned the attack on symbols of the state by two political parties," saying the violence was "undemocratic and unconstitutional."

"The steps taken by police and security forces to defend and defeat such acts were appreciated," the statement said.

The government blamed the protesters, saying officials had tried to negotiate. The statement called on Khan and Qadri to return to the negotiating table, but they showed no inclination to do so.

"Now, it is death or freedom," Khan said. "We will not leave from here without Nawaz Sharif's resignation."

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government did not plan to arrest Khan or Qadri but that it was planning to "push them out of the Red Zone."

In a bid to defuse the situation, Sharif agreed to an investigation into the allegations of voter fraud. Should the probe determine that the prime minister or his brother Shahbaz, the chief minister of Punjab province, was involved in vote rigging, they will resign, said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is involved in talks with the opposition.

On Sunday, protesters erected tents on the expansive lawns in front of the main Parliament building. Khan emerged briefly out of a specially converted container and waved to the crowds.

He had mostly stayed inside Saturday night as his supporters clashed with the police amid heavy use of tear gas. Khan had earlier said that he would lead from the front if clashes broke out with the police. Qadri, too, spent most of the time in his vehicle during the clashes, surrounded by his supporters.

Both Khan and Qadri called on more people to go into the streets to support them.

But there were some apparent cracks in Khan's party. Javed Hashmi, president of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, said at a news conference that Khan had overruled concerns of senior party leaders who had warned against it.

"Imran Khan will be responsible if martial law is imposed in the country," Hashmi said to reporters Sunday.

Supporters of Khan are protesting in various neighborhoods of Lahore, the country's second-largest city. They have blocked various roads leading to Lahore from adjoining cities, while the government has also tightened security.

The protests began with a march from Lahore on Pakistan's Independence Day, Aug. 14.

The demonstrations signify the starkest threat to Sharif's third term as prime minister. His previous term ended in 1999 with a military coup and his eventual exile. This turn in office has seen equally contentious relations with the country's powerful army. He's clashed with the military over the prosecution of the former army chief for treason, accusations the country's powerful spy agency was behind the attempted killing of a top TV anchor and a military operation in the tribal areas.

Sharif vowed Saturday that he would not step down, but if the violence continues, it could severely undermine his authority.

"The biggest question: Can Nawaz Sharif survive? The answer, in these frantic hours, must surely be a miserable, despondent no," read an editorial in Dawn, one of the country's leading English-language newspapers.

Also Sunday evening, a cargo plane was hit by gunfire at the Peshawar airport, where it had landed for refueling after taking off from Kabul in neighboring Afghanistan. It was not clear whether the plane was deliberately attacked or struck by a random bullet, possibly fired as part of a wedding celebration, officials said.

Information for this article was contributed by Asif Shahzad, Zarar Khan, Anjum Naveed and Riaz Khan of The Associated Press; by Salman Masood and Waqar Gilani of The New York Times; and by Faseeh Mangi, Kamran Haider, Khurrum Anis, Naween A. Mangi and Rajesh Kumar Singh of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 09/01/2014

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