ISLAMABAD: Some suspicious plastic equipment caused panic and fear among the participants of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf sit-in on Thursday night.

The plastic objects, later identified as a mask and a light, were spotted by an unknown person at an abandoned area to the right side of Imran Khan’s stage.

The observer assumed that it is a bomb and told the other participants, which spread panic among the crowd.

Subsequently, the officials of the bomb disposal squad rushed to the scene and searched the area. “Someone, after seeing the broken plastic mask and light claimed that there is a bomb. But after searching the surroundings, we have cleared the area,” said a senior official of the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration.

“I don’t think this was done deliberately to spread fear among the participants, because these things were lying at an abandoned area. Keeping in view the security situation, the witness might have assumed it was a bomb,” he said.

Meanwhile, PTI workers alleged that it was a part of the government’s tactics to disturb the participants of the sit-in.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2014