Supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan broke through a ring of shipping containers sealing off Islamabad on Tuesday, battling police and defying a government threat to answer gunfire with gunfire. At least one person died in the violent clashes and scores were injured, in the sharpest escalation yet of Pakistan’s deepening political crisis.
The Imran Khan supporters Islamabad clashes erupted as thousands of protesters pressed toward the capital’s Red Zone, which houses key government buildings and foreign diplomatic missions. Police used tear gas to disperse the crowds after demonstrators began dismantling the container barricades that had locked down the city.
FAKTA
- At least one person died in clashes between Imran Khan’s supporters and police in Islamabad on Tuesday; scores more were injured.
- Protesters broke through shipping-container barricades sealing off the capital and pushed to within about six miles of the Red Zone.
- More than 4,000 supporters have been arrested since Friday, police said, with mobile and internet services suspended in parts of the country.
- The confrontation follows the federal government’s imposition of emergency rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday, suspending the PTI-led provincial government.
- Khan has been jailed since August 2023 and faces more than 150 criminal cases; his party says the cases are politically motivated.
Islamabad clashes erupt as supporters push toward Red Zone
Police said authorities had deployed thousands of officers and sealed the government district with shipping containers to foil the protest. Khan’s supporters were about 6.2 miles from the Red Zone when the clashes broke out.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said shortly after midnight that police would respond with live fire if protesters fired weapons at them. “If they again fire bullets, the bullet will be responded with the bullet,” he said. Naqvi said Khan’s party had rejected a government offer to rally on the outskirts of the city.
Among those hurt was an Associated Press videographer, who was beaten by dozens of protesters and had his camera smashed, sustaining head injuries that required hospital treatment.
Emergency rule and arrests deepen the standoff
The crisis intensified on Sunday when President Asif Ali Zardari approved the imposition of emergency rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI stronghold where Khan’s party has governed for 13 years. The provincial government was suspended, and the chief minister, Sohail Afridi, along with some cabinet members, was taken into preventive custody, federal minister Talal Chaudhry told Reuters.
The federal government said the emergency step, allowed under the constitution, was needed to protect the province’s population from the threat of terror and accused the PTI-led provincial government of failing to curb militancy — a charge the party denies. Talks between the government and the PTI broke down after the government asked the party to publicly condemn militancy, Chaudhry said; a PTI spokesperson did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Thousands of Khan’s supporters had already been marching through the province for days demanding his release, with schools closed, the internet partially shut and roads blocked by containers over the weekend. On Tuesday, dozens of supporters also took to the streets in Bara in Khyber district, Afridi’s hometown, where there were reports of tear gas shelling.
Khan was ousted in 2022 through a no-confidence vote and has been imprisoned since his first conviction in a graft case in August 2023. His 2023 arrest sparked nationwide riots in which supporters attacked military installations, and the party’s last major protest two years ago ended in deadly clashes with security forces.
For more coverage of Pakistan, see our latest Pakistan news on Watan News.
