Supporters of Imran Khan, by far the most popular man in Pakistan, left central Islamabad on the morning of Wednesday, November 27. From the clashes of the previous day only remains of cars and debris remained. The authorities waited until Tuesday night to launch their operation and disperse the supporters of the former prime minister (2018-2022), imprisoned since August 2023 and prosecuted in hundreds of cases for having shaken all military power.
“Security forces attacked unarmed protesters and fired live ammunition. Many were injured, others died. We don’t have figures at the moment.”said Faisal Amin Khan Gandapur, MP from Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice, PTI), Imran Khan’s party, on Tuesday night.
To respond to the“final call” To speak out as his defenders, Khan’s supporters challenged the government, which had banned their gathering. The processions began on Sunday, November 24, leaving Punjab, Imran Khan’s political stronghold, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PTI’s stronghold, to converge on the capital. Protesters faced major blockades across the country, but thousands of them began arriving in Islamabad on Tuesday morning.
Islamabad under siege
The capital, which hosted the visit of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, had been under siege. Containers had been placed on the other side of the roads. Some 20,000 security forces had been deployed. Schools had been closed and no neighborhood escaped Internet and mobile phone outages.
None of this was enough to discourage the protesters, who braved barricades and tear gas to enter a highly secure area of the capital, near the headquarters of the country’s institutions, where they planned to hold a sit-in to demand. the release of the former prime minister.
Throughout their journey, they were encouraged by Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, who had just been released from prison after being released on bail. Together with the chief executive of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, he led one of the processions, aboard an imposing and very safe truck full of followers. Bushra Bibi, presented as a Sufi healer, whose face is always hidden behind a veil, fled before being arrested on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. Like Mr. Gandapur. “All we wanted from day one was a peaceful gathering. Why create so many problems? »laments Imran Khan’s former collaborator Zulfi Bukhari.
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