Pakistan’s security forces have driven supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan from Islamabad following a sweeping crackdown overnight.
Authorities reopened roads linking the capital with the rest of the country, ending a four-day lockdown, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Wednesday, confirming that the city had been cleared.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, a key aide to Khan, said hundreds of protesters who had marched to Islamabad demanding the release of the cricketer-turned-politician had been shot and thousands were arrested in the crackdown. In a separate statement, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party also said eight people were killed, a claim dismissed by the government.
Police had earlier said no lethal arms were used in Tuesday night’s operation and nearly 1,000 protesters had been arrested.
On Wednesday morning, city workers were cleaning up debris and clearing the shipping containers that had been used by authorities to block roads leading into the capital to halt the protesters’ march.
The protest was called by the PTI, which planned to stage a sit-in to press for the release of Khan, who has been jailed since August 2023 in connection with more than 150 cases. Khan alleges the charges are politically motivated and intended to prevent his comeback in contested elections this year.
Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, spearheaded the convoy that on Tuesday broke through security lines leading to the edge of the Red Zone, which houses government buildings and embassies.
More than 10,000 protesters confronted about 20,000 security personnel in deadly clashes that saw several people killed, including four paramilitary soldiers.
Late on Tuesday, the army took control of D-Chowk, a large square in the Red Zone where protesters had gathered.
PTI announced a “temporary suspension” of the protests, broadcaster Geo News reported on Wednesday.
Mohammad Asim, PTI’s president for the city of Peshawar in the party’s northern stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told news agency Reuters that the party would “chalk out the new strategy later after proper consultation”.
He said Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, a key Khan ally, had returned “safely” to the province from Islamabad. Police are known to be seeking Bibi’s arrest.
Police have arrested more than 4,000 Khan supporters since Friday and suspended mobile and internet services in some parts of the country. However, services have now been restored.