Islamabad braces for possible clashes

FE Team | Published: August 20, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Imran Khan addresses his supporters. — AFP

ISLAMABAD, Aug 19, (agencies): Islamabad braced for possible clashes after opposition politician Imran Khan pledged to lead his supporters in a march on the Pakistani capital's heavily guarded government district, in a high-stakes bid to depose the prime minister.
Khan, the former cricket star who leads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party, says last year's general election was rigged and has demanded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resign.
Thousands of Khan's followers have protested in Islamabad over the past five days to demand Sharif quit, piling pressure on the government little more than a year since its landslide victory.
The protests come as Pakistan's armed forces wage an offensive against Taliban militants in the northwest and as the government tries to boost a flagging economy.
Populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri has led his own protest in the capital at the same time, also seeking to topple the government, adding to the febrile political atmosphere.
Mass support for the protest movement beyond Khan and Qadri's core supporters appears to be lacking and other opposition parties have shunned Khan's call to unseat the government.
Newspapers and business leaders have also criticised Khan's tactics, which on Sunday included a call for "civil disobedience".
With Khan looking isolated, on Monday PTI made a dramatic double roll of the dice to try to re-energise its campaign.
First the party announced it would resign all of its seats in parliament and three out of four provincial assemblies.
Then Khan pledged to lead the protesters in a march on Islamabad's high-security "red zone", which houses key buildings including parliament, the prime minister's house and numerous Western embassies.
The area has been cordoned off with shipping containers and heavily guarded by security personnel since the protests began, setting the stage for possible clashes if Khan goes through with his pledge.
At the protest site, where a few thousand demonstrators tried to find shelter from the hot sun, PTI activists struck a defiant tone.