Supporters of jailed ex-PM rally in Pakistan despite police crackdown

Demonstrators rally, demanding Imran Khan be released from jail despite a ban on protests and police crackdown.

Supporters of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan have rallied in Islamabad to push for Khan’s release as the police blocked roads, cut off mobile internet and fired tear gas to deter the protesters.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday claimed that the party leader from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province, Ali Amin Gandapur, has been abducted and unlawfully detained. But Al Jazeera could not independently verify the claim.

Gandapur, the chief minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was leading thousands of protesters who camped on Islamabad-Peshwar highway on Friday overnight. Police used teas gas as they attempted to enter the city.

This is the latest in a series of protests held by supporters of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which has faced a crackdown from authorities.

The PTI, which says the Islamabad protest is just for one day, also held a gathering in the eastern city of Lahore on Saturday, where a lockdown of roads was in place.

“I am so proud of all our people,” said a message from Khan posted on the social media site X on Saturday afternoon.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi accused the protesters of clashing with police. “Over 80 police officers have been injured in the clashes,” he said.

Naqvi had previously called on the PTI to delay any gathering until after diplomatic engagements in the city, including a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting on October 15-16 which will be attended by delegations, including from China, Russia and India.

PTI activists began driving to Islamabad on Friday from his powerbase in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, but encountered shipping container roadblocks and volleys of tear gas.

Naqvi said the authorities had intelligence that the protesters planned to disrupt the SCO conference in a bid to gain attention.

“We can’t allow this. I will say to them again, to not cross more red lines – don’t make us take extreme steps,” Naqvi said.

‘Worrying clampdown’

Amnesty International said the communications cuts and road blockades “infringe on people’s right to freedom of expression, access to information, peaceful assembly and movement”.

“These restrictions are part of a worrying clampdown on the right to protest in Pakistan,” the rights group said.

The social media site X has also been blocked across Pakistan since after the election in February, when mobile internet was likewise cut on polling day and PTI has alleged widespread vote-tampering took place.

The 72-year-old Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was deposed in a parliamentary no-confidence vote after falling out with the powerful military establishment, widely considered Pakistan’s political kingmakers.

He was imprisoned in August last year on several charges. Though his conviction in most cases has either been overturned or suspended, he continues to remain in jail, facing trial in other cases he claims have been orchestrated to prevent his return to power.

Khan was barred from standing in the February elections, which the PTI alleges were rigged. Several other countries had raised “serious concerns” about the fairness of the vote, but election authorities in Pakistan have denied the charges.

Last month, several PTI lawmakers were arrested on the premises of Pakistan’s parliament.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies