Supporters seeking the release of imprisoned former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan yesterday broke through a ring of shipping containers locking down the capital, Islamabad, while at least six people have died in protest-related violence.
Protesters battled security forces and ignored a government threat to respond with gunfire.
The dead included four members of the security services and one civilian who were killed when a vehicle rammed them on a street.
Photo: AFP
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the attack, saying an “anarchist group” was deliberately targeting law enforcement personnel. There were no claims of responsibility for the ramming. A police officer died in a separate incident.
Thousands of security forces have poured into central Islamabad. Pakistan’s army took control of D-Chowk, a large square in downtown Islamabad’s Red Zone, which is an area that houses key government buildings and is the final destination for the protesters.
Paramilitary rangers formed the next layer of deterrence at the site and police made up the third. Rangers urged everyone to leave the area, including journalists, and fired warning shots into the air.
“We have now allowed police to take any decision according to the situation,” Pakistani Minister of the Interior Mohsin Naqvi said while visiting the square.
Earlier, Naqvi threatened security forces would respond with live fire if protesters fired weapons at them.
Visiting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was staying in the Red Zone as part of his official trip.
One protester, Shahzor Ali, said people were on the streets because Khan had called for them to be there.
“We will stay here until Khan is among us. He will decide what to do next,” he said.
“If they again fire bullets, the bullet will be responded with the bullet,” he said.
Police are using tear gas to try and disperse the crowds. Scores of people have been injured, including journalists who were attacked by demonstrators. Dozens of Khan supporters beat a videographer covering the protest for The Associated Press and took his camera. He sustained head injuries and was treated in a hospital.
Pakistani media have mostly stopped filming and photographing the rally, instead focusing on the security measures and the city’s deserted streets.
People are closing in on the Red Zone. Naqvi said Khan’s party rejected a government offer to rally on the outskirts of the city. By yesterday afternoon, fresh waves of protesters were making their way unopposed to the rally site. Most had the party flag around their shoulders or wore its tricolor on accessories.
Khan, who has been in jail for more than a year and faces more than 150 criminal cases, remains popular. His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), says the cases are politically motivated.
Authorities say only courts can order the release of Khan, who was ousted in 2022 through a no-confidence vote in parliament. He has been imprisoned since his first conviction in a graft case, in August last year, and has been sentenced in several other cases.
Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, who is leading the protest, told people to keep marching toward the Red Zone peacefully. She said another plan of action would be conveyed to protesters if Khan was not released. She also urged the government not to harm the demonstrators.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS