Supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan called off their massive street protest in the capital of Islamabad on Wednesday following massive overnight raids by police and paramilitary forces, which resulted in hundreds of injuries and more than a thousand arrests.
An immense column of protesters descended upon Islamabad on Sunday, triggering a citywide lockdown and massive police response. The police created barricades from shipping containers to keep the marchers away from D-Chowk Square, where vital government offices are located, but the marchers pushed through the barricades, triggering violent clashes on Tuesday that left a half-dozen security personnel dead.
The protesters are largely members of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party, enraged that the former PM has been jailed for years on charges of corruption and abuse of power, which PTI dismisses as political fabrications. Khan’s supporters also believed this year’s elections were rigged to keep PTI out of power.
The demonstration, led by Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, had plans to occupy the “red zone” of D-Chowk square until Khan was released and the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif resigned. Those plans appear to have been scuttled after Wednesday’s overnight raids.
According to Pakistani media reports, the government turned out the lights in central Islamabad after midnight, then bathed the protest encampments in a cloud of tear gas.
Almost all of the protesters had cleared out by sunrise. An ominous symbol of the broken protest was the burned wreckage of the truck that carried Bushra Bibi to Islamabad.
Human rights groups and PTI leaders expressed some unease about the heavy-handed midnight raid, but things could certainly have been a lot worse as the Pakistani military had been deployed to protect D-Chowk Square, and government officials spoke of giving them shoot-on-sight orders.
The army has taken a dim view of PTI supporters ever since they destroyed military property during riots in May 2023 following Khan’s arrest. PTI also marched on Islamabad in October, prompting clashes with police that killed one officer.
Security officials described this week’s protesters as an invading army, armed with steel rods, clubs, slingshots, and tear gas launchers of their own, and accused them of committing vandalism and arson as they swept into Islamabad.
PTI decided to throw in the towel after the midnight raids. Spokesman Zulfikar Bukhari said two protesters have been killed, one shot dead and the other run over by a police vehicle.
Mohammad Asim, president of the PTI in its stronghold city of Peshawar, said it was necessary to perform a tactical retreat after the forceful overnight police action.
“We will chalk out a new strategy later, after proper consultation,” Asim said. He added that Bibi and other PTI leaders were able to depart “safely” from Islamabad and return to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province where Peshawar is located.
Police officials said on Wednesday that 954 of the estimated 10,000 pro-Khan marchers have been arrested for defying a ban on public gatherings. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi saluted security forces for “bravely repulsing the protesters.”
Khan himself issued a call for his followers to keep fighting, and perhaps return in even greater numbers, but he also urged them to “remain peaceful, stay united, and stand firm until our demands are met.”