1,000 protesters in Pakistan were held during a march in support of Khan

Pakistani police said on November 27 that they had arrested almost 1,000 protesters who marched on the capital to demand the release of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan. A large-scale security raid forced the protesters to leave the city center.

Khan has been jailed since August 2023, sidelined by
He asserts that allegations of election rigging have confected dozens of legal cases to prevent his comeback this year.

His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has held regular protests since the election in February, even though the government has tried to stop them. But Tuesday’s event was by far the biggest to hit the capital since the election.

More than 10,000 protesters surged into the city, defying a lockdown and a ban on public gatherings to skirmish with 20,000 security forces enlisted to turn them back.

Ali Nasir Rizvi, the inspector general of police in Islamabad, said that 954 protesters were caught between Sunday and Tuesday when large groups of people got within a mile of a public place they wanted to take over.

The government reported that at least one police officer and four state paramilitary members had died until early Wednesday morning, when troops with tear gas and batons cleared the main road.

In a statement, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that security forces had “bravely repulsed the protesters.” Simultaneously, PTI informed activists on social media about the cancellation of the gathering “for the time being.”

“High time” to talk
Khan called for followers to come to the capital on Tuesday from his cell phone outside of Islamabad.

But his main follower, Ali Amin Gandapur, and his wife, Bushra Bibi, led the people. Bushra Bibi also faced imprisonment earlier this year, but she managed to escape last month.

“Imran Khan is the only one who can stop the movement,” Gandapur said after leaving Islamabad and going to his home province in the northwest, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where he is the chief minister.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif referred to the protests as “extremism”. Since Sunday, his ministers have held regular news conferences in the middle of Islamabad, where they have said they will not spare the marchers.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a statement that Khan and Sharif’s groups should “start a serious political conversation right away.”

“It is high time that they agree on a peaceful way forward instead of whipping up the emotions of their respective political workers and bringing the country to a standstill,” it said.

Michael Kugelman, the director of the South Asia Institute at The Wilson Center, stated on the social media platform X that “Pakistan’s protests had no winners.”

He claimed that the crackdown has increased anger towards the establishment while also forcing PTI to retreat.

He stated, “A worsening confrontation burdens Pakistan overall.”

“EXCESSIVE FORCE”
Sharif’s government has come under increasing criticism for deploying heavy-handed measures to quash PTI rallies.

Mobile internet was cut across Islamabad, schools shut on Monday remained closed Wednesday, and roadblocks prevented thousands of workers from reaching their jobs.

Amnesty International stated that “law enforcement officials have used unlawful and excessive force as protesters enter the capital.”

Khan, a charismatic 72-year-old former cricket star, served as premier from 2018 to 2022 and is the lodestar of PTI.

After a disagreement with the kingmaking military establishment, which analysts claim controls the rise and fall of Pakistan’s politicians, a no-confidence vote ousted him.

As the opposition leader, he spearheaded an unprecedented campaign of defiance, resulting in street protests that escalated into unrest, which the government cited as the reason for its crackdown.

PTI won more seats than any other party in this year’s election, but a coalition of parties considered more pliable to military influence shut them out of power.

But as they retreated from the capital, there were growing calls for reconciliation to prevent future flare-ups impacting regular citizens in the country of 240 million.