Paramilitary soldiers march along a street leading to the Red Zone area during the protest by the demanding the release of former prime minister Imran Khan [GETTY]
Thousands of supporters of Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan marched on the capital, Islamabad, this week, breaking through barricades and clashing with police in response to his call for a sit-in protest.
Topping the demands of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is the release of all its leaders, including Khan, who has been jailed on a series of corruption charges since August 2023.
They also seek the current government’s resignation over what they call rigged general elections this year.
PTI supporters nationwide, including Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, have marched on the capital. Many came from the party’s stronghold in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
They have vowed to enter the capital and rally at a public square near parliament, a popular protest site, to hold what leaders have called a “do or die” sit-in.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has not yet indicated that it will accommodate the demands. Authorities have blocked major roads and streets in Islamabad using shipping containers, and police and paramilitary personnel have patrolled in riot gear.
Mobile internet links are down, and schools have been closed for several days in the capital and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi. Gatherings have been banned in Islamabad.
Thousands of supporters clashed with police and paramilitary troops on the weekend as they tried to enter Islamabad.Â
Pakistani authorities arrested nearly 1,000 supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, who stormed the capital this week to demand his release, the city’s police chief said on Wednesday.
Khan’s aides alleged, without immediately providing evidence, that hundreds had suffered gunshot wounds during chaotic scenes overnight in the heart of Islamabad as police dispersed protesters led by Khan’s wife who had broken through security barricades.
They also said thousands had been arrested.
Islamabad’s police chief, Ali Rizvi, denied that live ammunition had been used during the operation, which he said police had conducted alongside paramilitary forces.
Rizvi said 600 protesters were arrested in Tuesday’s operation, bringing the total number of arrests since the protest sit-in began on Sunday to 954.
He said weapons, including automatic rifles and tear gas guns, were seized from the protest site where thousands had gathered. The site was cleared in a matter of hours.
Both sides have reported injuries, and the prime minister’s office said members of the paramilitary were killed when they were run over by a car in the protest convoy. The interior ministry put the number of those killed at four.
The marchers aim to reach the roundabout near parliament that has long been a rallying point for protests and sit-ins that have marked Pakistan’s turbulent politics for decades.
The site is in Islamabad’s heavily fortified red zone, home to parliament, key government installations, luxury hotels, embassies, and foreign organisation offices.
Stormy politics and unrest during Pakistan’s 77-year history have included protests and sit-ins by opposition parties.
Khan led one of Pakistan’s largest sit-ins in 2014 when his supporters protesting against the PML-N government occupied the roundabout site for 126 days.
PTI supporters last marched on Islamabad in October, sparking days of clashes with police that killed one officer.
(Reuters contributed to this article)
