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Major rally of Khan supporters approaches Islamabad
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Daily life is paralyzed due to lockdowns and highway closures
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Khan’s party demands his release and government resignation
Written by Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD – A march by hundreds of supporters calling for the release of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan reached the outskirts of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Monday, amid reports of violence elsewhere, his party and his party said. Officials announced.
Authorities have imposed a security lockdown for the past two days to stop protesters called by Prime Minister Khan to stage a sit-in demonstration in parliament, and highways into the city have been barricaded.
The government has used shipping containers to block Islamabad’s main roads and streets, most of which are patrolled by large forces of police and paramilitary forces in riot gear.
In the eastern province of Punjab, all public transport between cities and terminals was also shut down to keep away protesters led by members of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, officials and witnesses said. It is said that
“We will not allow them to attack the capital,” State Information Minister Uzma Buhari said, adding that about 80 of Mr Khan’s supporters had been arrested.
Several police officers were injured in clashes and riots in several parts of the state, she told a news conference.
The capital has further tightened security ahead of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s planned visit on Monday.
Khan’s party accused the government of using violent tactics to stop demonstrators and said it had arrested hundreds of workers and leaders.
“They are also firing live ammunition,” Shaukat Yousafzai, one of Mr. Khan’s close aides, told broadcaster Geo News TV.
Police said in a statement that gatherings of any kind were prohibited in Islamabad. Authorities closed all schools in Islamabad and the neighboring garrison city of Rawalpindi, and internet and WhatsApp messaging services were also disrupted.
The protest march, which Khan described as a “last call”, is one of many his party has held to call for his release since he was jailed in August last year. A recent party protest in Islamabad in early October turned violent.
Khan’s third wife Bushra Bibi and key aide and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur were leading a rally that arrived in a suburb of Islamabad on Sunday night, the party said. .
Khan, who was ousted in a parliamentary vote in 2022 after falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military, faces charges ranging from corruption to inciting violence, all of which he and his party deny. are.
The military plays an outsized role in politics, largely deciding who rules the South Asian country of 241 million people.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.
