Pakistan’s jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan called late Tuesday for more supporters to join protests over his incarceration in the capital, after a day of deadly confrontations between marchers and security forces.
Convoys of pro-Khan demonstrators have been marching on Islamabad since Sunday, hauling aside roadblocks and skirmishing with police and paramilitary forces firing volleys of rubber bullets and tear gas.
Khan has been jailed since August 2023, sidelined by dozens of legal cases he claims were confected to prevent his comeback in elections this year marred by rigging allegations.
Since the February vote his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has defied a government crackdown with regular rallies, but Tuesday’s is by far the largest to grip the capital.
In the evening, Khan issued a statement from his jail cell outside Islamabad, telling more people to join crowds attempting to occupy a public square in the city’s government enclave.
“Those who haven’t yet joined the protest must also head to D-Chowk,” said Khan’s message posted on social media and shared by his party.
“All Pakistanis participating in the protest must remain peaceful, stay united, and stand firm until our demands are met.”
Despite a ban on public gatherings, AFP journalists saw more than 10,000 protesters in the city centre, facing off with police.
“This is not our government, this government is made up of traitors,” protester Abdul Rashid told AFP, his face covered by a thick scarf. “Long live Imran Khan.”
‘Own people as enemies’
The government said rioters killed four members of a state paramilitary force, running them over with a vehicle on a city highway leading to the government sector.
One police officer was also reported killed in unrest on Monday. There was no immediate official figure available for any casualties among the demonstrators.
“These disruptive elements do not seek revolution but bloodshed,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement. “This is not a peaceful protest, it is extremism.”
The capital has been locked down since late Saturday, with mobile internet sporadically cut and more than 20,000 police flooding the streets, many armed with riot shields and batons.
“The state’s response is completely unwarranted and disproportionate. We have the right to protest,” PTI lawmaker Waqas Akram told AFP by phone.
“They treat their own people as enemies,” he said.
The government has accused protesters of attempting to derail a state visit by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who arrived for a three-day trip on Monday.
“There will be no negotiations with violent people,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters late Tuesday. “They want to see dead bodies. Their intentions are not good.”
Last week, the Islamabad city administration announced a two-month ban on public gatherings.
But PTI convoys travelled from their power base in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the most populous province of Punjab.
The government cited “security concerns” for the mobile internet outages, while Islamabad’s schools and universities were due to remain shut on Wednesday.
Amnesty International said “as protesters enter the capital, law enforcement officials have used unlawful and excessive force”.
Khan’s campaign
PTI’s chief demand is the release of Khan, the 72-year-old charismatic former cricket star who served as premier from 2018 to 2022 and is the lodestar of their party.
They are also protesting alleged tampering in the February polls and a recent government-backed constitutional amendment giving it more power over the courts, where Khan is tangled in dozens of cases.
Sharif’s government has come under increasing criticism for deploying heavy-handed measures to quash PTI’s protests.
Khan was ousted by a no-confidence vote after falling out with the kingmaking military establishment, which analysts say engineers the rise and fall of Pakistan’s politicians.
But as opposition leader, he led an unprecedented campaign of defiance, with PTI street protests boiling over into unrest that the government cited as the reason for its crackdown.
PTI won more seats than any other party in this year’s election, but a coalition of parties considered more pliable to military influence shut them out of power.
(AFP)