Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad went under lockdown on Sunday as thousands of supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan marched on the city to demand his immediate release.
The authorities also partially shut down the Internet to interfere with protest organizers.
Khan has instructed his supporters to stage several such marches and demonstrations to demand his freedom. He was ousted as prime minister by a no-confidence vote in April 2022 and has been subjected to hundreds of charges and investigations since then, many of them concerning alleged acts of corruption when he was in power.
Khan rallied his supporters in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party for a political comeback that began almost as soon as he left office and he is arguably the most popular politician in Pakistan today, but he is also in jail.
Khan has been acquitted of many of the charges filed against him, including some of the most serious allegations, but he is currently serving three prison sentences, the longest one for 14 years.
Khan remains politically active, largely through messages he passes to the few people allowed to see him in prison. According to his relatives, he is entirely dedicated to his political movement.
“There is still a swagger about him. He’s got no needs, no wants – only a cause,” his sister, Aleema Khanum, told the BBC in August.
“He has said ‘I’m not wasting a minute of my time in jail, it’s an opportunity for me to get more knowledge,’” she said of his prodigious reading habits.
PTI supporters believe all of the charges keeping Khan in jail are fabrications created by Pakistan’s powerful military and intelligence services — perhaps with an assist from foreign powers like the United States — to keep their hardcore Islamist leader behind bars.
On Sunday, PTI’s latest march to demand Khan’s freedom reached Islamabad, prompting the police to declare a ban on all public gatherings. Tens of thousands of police and paramilitary troops blocked the highways, using shipping containers to barricade some of the streets around parliamentary headquarters and other government buildings.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi warned that any protesters who entered Islamabad’s D-Chowk square, where Khan instructed them to gather, would be arrested. The protesters defied Naqvi’s warning and clashed with police on Monday, led by Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, who was herself jailed until she was granted bail on the last of the charges against her in October.
“As long as Imran is not with us, we will not end this march. I will stay there till my last breath, and all of you must support me. This is not just about my husband, but about the country and its leader,” Bibi said on Monday.
Police officials reported over 4,000 arrests since Friday. Both police and protesters have reportedly been injured in the battles. Khan’s aide Shaukat Yousafzai accused police of “firing live protests” at PTI supporters. The police said one of their officers was killed, and several others were “taken hostage,” by the protesters.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari on Monday denounced PTI as more akin to a terrorist organization than a political party, and accused Khan and Bibi of setting the country “on fire” by inciting their followers to violence.
“To those who call them a political party, I ask them if they will say it after this. Imran Khan’s supporters taking police officers hostage … is this politics?” she asked.
“The PTI wants dead bodies to achieve its objectives. However, the State will act with patience and restraint,” she said.
