The Pakistani capital of Islamabad has been locked down as supporters of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan have been arriving in droves from all over the country to demand his release from jail.
Khan was toppled in April 2022 by the first no-confidence vote in the country’s history, reportedly on request of the US because he was too friendly to Russia. He has since been imprisoned on an ever-changing series of charges. Rejecting the allegations as politically motivated, Khan has called on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to assemble in the capital.
“These are not ordinary times. These people have been yearning for a Pakistan where justice and the rule of law is supreme, and the state serves the people, not the elites. This is exactly what Imran Khan promises. Hence, Imran Khan, being their only hope, must be released, and this is their final demand,” the PTI said in a statement on Monday.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has accused Khan of a “well-thought out conspiracy” and vowed to arrest every protester who tries to get into the capital. The “red zone” of Islamabad, home to all the parliamentary and government buildings, has been “completely sealed off” by barricades made of shipping containers, The Guardian reported on Monday.
The authorities have blocked roads in many parts of Pakistan and deployed tens of thousands of police and militia, aiming to prevent the PTI convoys from reaching the capital. Mobile internet and messaging services such as WhatsApp have been blocked in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
More than 70,000 people were marching on Islamabad from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone, according to PTI spokesman Shaikh Waqas Akram, and intend to surround the capital on three sides.
“The police in Punjab and other places have fired rubber bullets, expired shells and stun grenades at us. They are trying to stop a peaceful protest for the release of Khan,” Akram told reporters. The PTI came prepared, he added, bringing vehicles equipped with fans to disperse the gas.
“Until Imran is with us, we will not end this march,” Khan’s wife Bishra Bibi said in a speech on Monday, vowing to “stay there till my last breath.” Bibi was recently released from prison herself, after the government’s case against her and Khan for allegedly violating Islamic law with their marriage collapsed on appeal.
The secretary-general of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Ahsan Iqbal, accused Khan of trying to circumvent the courts by using the street protests.
“He will have to clear himself from the cases registered against him. Without this, the government cannot release him,” said Iqbal, who is also the minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives in Sharif’s government.
Khan was initially charged under anti-terrorism laws, then on corruption charges, then for improperly receiving gifts from foreign countries, then for revealing state secrets, and finally for violating Islamic law with his marriage. New accusations would be leveled as soon as each previous sentence was reversed on appeal. The most recent allegations claim that Khan incited violence by his supporters at a protest in September. He is currently held in the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.
The PTI claims to have won the popular vote in the February election but maintains that Sharif and the military rigged the count to stay in power. They demand the release of Khan and all other political prisoners and the holding of free and fair elections.