(Adnkronos) – Another day of clashes between Pakistani police and the approximately 10,000 supporters of former Prime Minister and opposition leader Imran Khan, currently imprisoned, but for whom his ‘men’ have arrived in the capital to obtain his release. Khan, imprisoned since August 2023, has remained extremely popular among supporters of the Pakistan Justice Movement (TPI), whose electoral stronghold lies in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the clashes between police and protesters, four paramilitaries and two policemen have already lost their lives, while over a hundred police officers have been injured.
These are days of chaos in the country, with authorities imposing a lockdown, restricting internet access and barricading major roads leading to the capital to prevent the entry of protesters, invited by Khan to march on parliament. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who had promised extreme measures if protesters ‘crossed’ the outskirts to reach the city centre, has to contend with a march that appears unstoppable and that is dragging on with injuries and casualties. The protests also arrive in a city already armored in view of the official visit of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who arrived in the capital yesterday for three days of talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The protesters arrived in a long convoy that left from the northwestern city of Peshawar, located about 180 kilometers from Islamabad. Led by the former prime minister’s wife, Bushra Bibi, and Ali Amin Gandapur, head of government of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Khan’s party is still in power, the protesters reached D-Chowk, the large square near the national parliament. Authorities wanted to prevent the rioters from reaching the government quarter, and police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, as well as blocking roads with containers to prevent their advance.
Protesters are calling for Khan’s release and the repeal of a new constitutional amendment that has expanded the government’s power in the selection of judges and the choice of those responsible for judging political cases. Khan’s supporters also believe that February’s elections were neither free nor fair, calling Sharif’s “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 of Prime Minister Sharif, accusing him of collaborating with the military to remove him from office.
Khan, a former cricket star turned populist politician, has been in prison for over a year and faces multiple charges ranging from corruption to disclosing state secrets, charges he and his party deny. Khan and his party – the country’s main opposition force – remain very popular, and his detention has further strained relations between the powerful Pakistani military and his supporters. Khan has repeatedly urged his supporters to take to the streets to demand his release, sparking violent protests in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other cities across the country.
