This article was reprinted with permission after being published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Thousands of protesters calling for the transfer of past Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan defied barriers and tear gas on November 25 to move toward Islamabad , despite a lockdown , and a ban on public meetings.
Protesters , clashed , earlier on November 26 with police fire tear gas and rubber bullets at Khan followers to prevent them from entering the money.
In conflicts with marchers as they closed in on Islamabad, the government claimed one police officer had died and dozens had suffered critical injuries.
Since late on November 23rd, Islamabad has been closed down, and some smart Internet services have been temporarily unavailable.
Although the Lahore city administration next week imposed a two-month restrictions on public gatherings, Khan supporters who were determined to enter the city drove from the northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
Security officials say they expected between 9, 000 and 11, 000 demonstrators, while Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf ( PTI), said the number would be much higher. Khan adherents were seen wearing protective goggles and gas masks in a video posted on social media.
Yet as Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka arrived for a three-day visit, the party’s leaders continued making plans to visit the capital. Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, welcomed him at a aircraft close to the capital in the late evening of November 25.
However, the government was in discussions with Khan’s group to avoid any more violence, officials said.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi threatened severe measures if Khan supporters entered Lahore, but he assured investigators that the government would allow them to stage a protest there.
Khan, who has been in prison for over a month and faces more than 150 fugitive cases, remains common. PTI has said the circumstances are politically motivated.
Since Khan was prohibited from running in primaries in February, PTI has defied a federal crackdown by holding regular demonstrations in Islamabad and another big cities.
PTI’s main desire is the transfer of Khan, the charismatic, 72-year-old past baseball legend who served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.
Khan is tangled in lots of circumstances, and the celebration is even protesting alleged tampering with the February surveys and a recently-approved constitutional amendment giving it more authority over the authorities.
Sharif’s state has come under increasing condemnation for deploying heavy-handed measures to thwart PTI’s protests.
