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Dueling Claims Over Pakistan’s Feb. 8 Protest as Senate Demands Judicial Inquiry Into Islamabad Bombing

Detentions of activists during the call-out fueled accusations of heavy-handed policing.

Overview

  • PTI and allied groups hailed the nationwide shutter‑down and wheel‑jam as successful, while federal and ruling‑party figures said the public rejected the call.
  • Police detained participants and local PTI leaders, with Karachi’s Raja Azhar and Faheem Khan among those reported taken into custody, as GDA alleged false cases against peaceful protesters.
  • The death toll from the Tarlai suicide attack in Islamabad rose when an injured victim died in hospital, with a father and son among those killed.
  • The Senate unanimously condemned the attack and called for a judicial inquiry to be completed within four weeks with former judges and parliamentarians included, while a minister said facilitators had been arrested.
  • The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan publicly rejected UK media allegations about its International Training Fellowship program, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa moved a vagrancy bill to the cabinet proposing penalties and rehabilitation measures.