On Tuesday, November 26, clashes pitted Pakistani security forces against thousands of supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who entered Islamabad early in the morning to demand his release, journalists from Agence France-Presse reported ( AFP).
Protesters on one side and police and paramilitaries on the other were seen exchanging tear gas canisters. Security forces, who have locked down all areas of Islamabad since Sunday, have also fired rubber bullets and the Internet is inaccessible in several areas.
Authorities reported that one police officer died and that nine others were in critical condition, without providing further details about the circumstances. Since Sunday, “More than 20,000 security forces have been deployed in and around Islamabad”Mohammed Taqi, spokesman for the capital’s police, announced to AFP.
Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi had warned on Monday during his evening visit to D-Chowk, the venue where the former cricket star’s fans were scheduled to gather: “Those who come here will be arrested. »
Faced with the risks of violence, US diplomacy has “urged”Monday afternoon from Washington, “protesters to demonstrate peacefully”AND “at the same time” has “called on the Pakistani authorities to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
Schools closed, Internet cut
The call to demonstrate had been launched for Sunday. The protesters set out from provinces bordering the capital, Punjab, to the east, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a stronghold of Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Khan’s opposition party, to the west. It took them more than 48 hours to reach Islamabad, the administrative capital of the fifth most populous country in the world, where all the political institutions and the prison where Khan, 72, is imprisoned, are located.
In response to what the PTI presents as “his last act”The authorities did everything possible. Since the beginning of the week, Islamabad had unleashed 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.
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“Given the magnitude of the preparations, one wonders if the Islamabad police are preparing for war”he asked on Wednesday in his editorial, Sunrise, the daily reference in English. Throughout the capital, cranes have been placing hundreds of containers along the roads for days. “Islamabad will once again be transformed into “Contenairistan”, as the locals call it. Is it really necessary? The question arises”continue Sunrise.
Islamabad schools, which did not resume on Monday morning, will remain closed on Tuesday, authorities announced, while the Home Ministry warned that “The mobile Internet and Wi-Fi network will be cut off in areas where there are security dangers”.
“Arbitrary” detention, according to the UN
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the main NGO defending freedoms in the country, believes that “Blocking access to the capital, closing major roads in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, penalizes ordinary citizens, and in particular day laborers whose income depends on freedom of movement.”.
The head of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, Ali Amin Gandapur, had since Sunday asked his followers to “Go to Islamabad and stay there until Imran Khan, our leaders and our members are released from prison”. Addressing the authorities, he added: “They can shoot at us, bomb us and block the roads with their containers. If it gets out of control, you will be responsible. »
Khan, who was in power from 2018 to 2022, is being prosecuted before various courts mainly for cases of corruption or violent protests by his followers. In July, a UN panel of experts described his detention as” arbitrary “asking for his release “immediate”. His supporters mobilized en masse during his arrest more than a year ago and continue to demonstrate periodically.
Recently, ten deputies from his party were arrested and brought before an anti-terrorism judge, a few days after the approval of a law regulating demonstrations in Islamabad.
