Pakistan’s capital under lockdown as protesters call for Imran Khan’s release

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Pakistan has placed its capital under lockdown as thousands of supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan march on the city to demand his release, in the latest threat to the legitimacy of the military-backed government.

Protesters from across the country are descending on Islamabad in support of Khan, who remains a hugely popular figure in Pakistan and was jailed last year on corruption charges.

One police officer was killed and dozens of others injured in clashes with protesters loyal to Khan, who has been acquitted or granted bail in five cases but faces criminal charges in more than 100 others, ranging from graft to terrorism, according to his party.

Khan has denied all the charges, which his supporters say are politically motivated.

The latest protests, which began on Sunday, are the largest in the country since elections in February, in which candidates loyal to the former prime minister’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party won the most seats but were blocked from power by ​​the military and the traditional dynasty. parties.

Hundreds of PTI members have also been jailed since May 2023 following riots that targeted military installations.

In a statement posted to social media platform X, the Interior Ministry promised that “violent protesters will be brought to justice”.

PTI-aligned doctors claimed that police fired live shots at protesters and that one had been injured near Islamabad when he was hit by two bullets.

Khan’s party has demanded the government, now led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, release “political prisoners” and “return the stolen mandate”, a reference to allegations that the election was rigged against the PTI, according to a statement sent to Khan’s X- account on Tuesday.

Sharif’s military-backed government has responded by bringing Islamabad to a standstill for the second time in as many months. On Saturday, the police blocked off the main routes with shipping containers, and riot police and paramilitary forces were deployed throughout the city.

Mobile and internet services were also blocked in “areas of security concerns”, according to a statement from the interior ministry on X, which is banned in Pakistan and only accessible via virtual private networks.

“Whoever comes, you have to arrest them, don’t let them go,” Mohsin Naqvi, Pakistan’s interior minister, told a televised gathering of police officers on Saturday.

The Islamabad High Court last week also ruled that the PTI rally was illegal. Officials have banned gatherings of five or more people for two months.

Authorities also closed many of the roads leading out of Lahore, Khan’s hometown and political stronghold, as they hope to slow convoys heading for the capital 400km away. Local authorities have dug trenches on highways in other parts of the country.

PTI estimated that at least 3,000 party members, including three parliamentarians, had been arrested since last week. Pakistan’s interior minister did not respond to a request for comment.

Despite authorities’ efforts, the roads leading into Islamabad were filled with thousands of supporters carrying PTI flags on Monday, and videos on social media showed protesters using tractors to remove containers from the roads.

“This is a case of a critical mass of the population rejecting any notion of a public mandate for government,” said Michael Kugelman, a fellow at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington.

The protesters “are coming out to call for Khan’s release and condemn the government’s policies, but the root of their anger is what they see as the illegitimate government”.

The march is the latest sign of political instability in Pakistan as Sharif’s government grapples with several insurgencies in resource-rich provinces along the border with Afghanistan.

Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, said the government’s failure to address PTI’s grievances risks becoming a “fatal distraction” amid a worsening security situation.

Last week, at least 70 people were killed in sectarian fighting in northwest Pakistan. A separate series of terrorist attacks in Balochistan has shaken the confidence of Chinese and other foreign investors.

The shutdown of Islamabad also coincided with a state visit on Monday by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, a further embarrassment for Sharif’s administration as it seeks to court trade and investment for its cash-strapped economy.

“Hitting Pakistan’s overall economic stability is no service to Pakistan,” Jam Kamal Khan, the commerce minister, wrote on X, criticizing the PTI protests.