After hundreds of supporters of the nation’s imprisoned former prime minister, Imran Khan, burst through barricades and congregated in the capital, Islamabad, demanding his release, Pakistani security forces conducted a nighttime operation Tuesday to scatter the crowd.
Following Khan’s appeal for supporters to march on parliament, authorities imposed a nationwide security lockdown, blocked internet access, and blocked main routes leading to the capital to keep demonstrators out. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters that protesters could remain on the outskirts of Islamabad, but threatened extreme measures if they entered the city.
Defying the warnings, protesters marched to the edge of the city’s high-security red zone and clashed with security forces, amid volleys of tear gas and reports of mass arrests. Several people reportedly died in the unrest, mostly from the security services.
On Wednesday Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said in a message on X that it was calling off the protests “for the time being.” A convoy of vehicles carrying protesters set off from the city of Peshawar Sunday as part of a “long march” with the aim of reaching the capital, about 180 kilometers (110 miles) away.
Led by Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and Ali Amin Gandapur, chief minister in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – where PTI remains in power – the protesters planned to hold a sit-in at D-Chowk, a large square near the country’s parliament.
Protesters reached the outskirts of Islamabad Monday, defying a two-day security lockdown and a ban on rallies. Along the way, police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds, and blocked roads with shipping containers to prevent them from pushing through. Video showed a police post ablaze and several fires on the highway. Reuters reported 22 police vehicles were torched just outside Islamabad and elsewhere in Punjab province.
At least six people, including four security officials, were killed in the protests on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences told CNN earlier on Tuesday that five people had died, including four security officials and one civilian. Multiple sources told CNN a car rammed into them during the protests.
By Tuesday morning, protesters had breached the city limits and marched to D-Chowk, where soldiers could be seen outside key government buildings including parliament, the Supreme Court and the Secretariat. At midnight, security forces launched a raid to clear protesters and arrested hundreds of people, AP reported. Though Khan urged his supporters to “fight to the end,” PTI later called off the protests “in view of the government’s brutality.” Protesters are demanding the release of Khan and what his supporters deem political prisoners. They also want the repeal of a new constitutional amendment which has increased the government’s power to select superior court justices and pick those judges to hear political cases.
Khan’s supporters also believe February elections were not free or fair, calling it a “stolen mandate.” Khan was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in 2022 and has since led a popular campaign against the current government led by Prime Minister Sharif, accusing it of colluding with the military to remove him from office.
Source: Here
