After renewed tensions in Pakistan, the United States called on the parties to calm down as demonstrations and strong violence between Sunnis and Shiites increase.
Thousands of supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan advanced early Tuesday to the gates of Islamabad to demand the release of their champion under tear gas grenades and rubber bullets from the police deployed en masse, journalists from the 'AFP. The authorities report that a police officer was killed and that nine others are in critical condition, without giving further details on the circumstances.
Since Sunday, “more than 20,000 security forces have been deployed in and around Islamabad”announced Mohammed Taqi, spokesperson for the capital's police. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi was clear when he visited D-Chowk in the night, the gathering place that supporters of the former cricket star say they hope to reach in the morning: “those who come here will be arrested”.
The call to demonstrate had been launched for Sunday. The demonstrators left from the provinces bordering the capital – Punjab in the east and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, stronghold of Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the opposition party of Imran Khan, in the west.
«Containeristan»
It took them more than 48 hours to arrive at the gates of Islamabad, the administrative capital of the fifth most populous country in the world, where all the political institutions and the prison where Imran Khan, 72, is incarcerated. In response to what the PTI presents as “his last act”the authorities had pulled out all the stops, going so far as to raise questions.
From the start of the week, Islamabad had triggered the«article 144» which prohibits any gathering of more than four people for two months. Punjab, where more than half of Pakistanis live, followed suit on Saturday, with a similar decision, but limited to three days. “Given the scale of the preparations, one wonders if the Islamabad police are preparing for war”wondered on Wednesday in his editorial Dawnthe leading daily newspaper in English.
Throughout the capital, for days, hundreds of containers have been placed across the roads by cranes. “Islamabad will once again transform into 'Containeristan' as locals call it. Is it really necessary, the question arises”continues Dawn.
Islamabad schools, which did not resume on Monday morning, will remain closed on Tuesday, authorities announced, while the Interior Ministry warned that “the mobile internet network and Wi-Fi will be cut in areas where there are security dangers”.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the main NGO defending freedoms in the country, believes that “blocking access to the capital, by closing the main roads in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, penalizes ordinary citizens, and in particular daily workers whose income depends on freedom of movement”.
“Sacrifice our lives for him”
The pro-Khan, for their part, invariably brushes aside threats. Kalat Khan, 56, introduces himself as “a soldier of Imran Khan”currently imprisoned and prosecuted in around a hundred cases, according to the authorities. “We are ready to sacrifice our lives for him and we will go to D-Chowk”he tells AFPTV.
The head of the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, has since Sunday called on his supporters to “go to Islamabad and stay there until Imran Khan, our leaders and our members are released from prison”. Addressing the authorities, he added: “you can shoot at us, bomb us and block the roads with your containers. If it gets out of hand, you will be responsible.”.
Imran Khan, in power from 2018 to 2022, is being prosecuted before various courts mainly for cases of corruption or violent demonstrations by his supporters. In July, a panel of UN experts described his detention as“arbitrary”calling for his release “immediate”.
His supporters mobilized massively during his arrest more than a year ago, and continue to demonstrate regularly. Recently, ten deputies from his party were arrested and presented to an anti-terrorism judge a few days after the adoption of a law regulating demonstrations in Islamabad.
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