KARACHI: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday admitted that they turned to use force, which included crackdown, shelling, tear gas, and baton-charge by police, against the PTI protesters because of the violent actions of the former ruling supporters.

“The PTI protest was not peaceful and their conduct was against the norms of democracy. The demonstration was held in order to divide and distract people,” he said at the Aaj News morning show hosted by Sidra Iqbal.

Sanaullah, who had earlier warned the PTI against creating chaos, in a press conference on Wednesday claimed that there was a low turnout in the former ruling party protest. He further accused the PTI of creating instability in the country,

The host asked queries about the May 25 development, when Imran Khan started the long march from Swabi, and the media reporting on it.

He admitted that there might be some shortcomings in reporting the protest. But, he added that “possibly” the protest was reported in the media from every aspect (positive and negative). “This is the basic responsibility of media to report every activity.”

The interior minister admitted that the government had used force against the PTI in order to stop them as the protesters “were not peaceful and as per the democratic norms”. He called for a debate on the conduct of the protest, as to whether it was peaceful or not.

To a query on PTI chief Imran’s ultimatum, Sanaullah said the government would review its measures – including arrest and police action – taken on May 25 and before it to stop them. He demanded of the PTI to give in writing for holding a peaceful protest.

The government would improve preventive steps, he said, adding that the PTI from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tried to attack the Centre and removed barricades at different places. He described such shortcomings as “leakages”.