By William Tucker
Chief Correspondent for In Homeland Security
A two week old sit-in outside Pakistani PM Sharif’s Islamabad residence escalated as police launched tear gas at the protesters. Protesters began pelting police with rocks, however it is not known which side caused the escalation. Some estimates claim that around 100 demonstrates have been arrested with another 264 hospitalized.
The government stated that 26 policeman have been injured in the violence. Protest leaders including opposition politician Imran Khan and cleric Tahrul Qadri were quick to condemn the police action. For its part, the government claimed that some demonstrators were carrying weapons – an allegation dismissed by the opposition leaders.
Naturally, protests have many moving parts and multiple political representatives all vying for changes in government, and it is difficult to assess what exactly is happening on the ground. Though Khan has broken off talks with the government, it is unlikely, at least at the moment, that the Sharif government will collapse.
If violence continues to escalate the PM’s survival would be very much in question. Even if the government does survive it will not do so unscathed. This uprising coming on the heels of Pakistan’s first civilian transfer of government puts the future of who and what type governance exists in Islamabad very much in doubt.
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