MONITORING (SW) – Pakistan security forces launched a night-time operation to disperse thousands of supporters of the country’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, after the crowd broke through barricades and gathered in the capital Islamabad demanding his release.
Authorities had enforced a security lockdown in the country, imposed internet blackouts and barricaded major roads leading to the capital to prevent protesters from entering, after Khan called on supporters to march on parliament, reported CNN.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters that protesters could remain on the outskirts of Islamabad, but threatened extreme measures if they entered the city.
On Wednesday Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said in a message on X that it was calling off the protests “for the time being.”
Led by Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and Ali Amin Gandapur, chief minister in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – where PTI remains in power – the protesters planned to hold a sit-in at D-Chowk, a large square near the country’s parliament.
At least six people, including four security officials, were killed in the protests on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
Doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences told CNN earlier on Tuesday that five people had died, including four security officials and one civilian. Multiple sources told CNN a car rammed into them during the protests.
The PTI has accused the government of using excessive force, saying “bullets were fired at protesters,” whom it described as peaceful. It said about two dozen protesters had been injured.
