In barricaded Islamabad, clashes between police and Imran Khan supporters

Photo: Aamir Qureshi Agence France-Presse Police officers fire tear gas to disperse supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party during a protest demanding the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, in Islamabad, on November 26, 2024.

Muhammad Daud – Agence France-Presse and Shrouq Tariq – Agence France-Presse in Islamabad

Published at 0:39

• Asia

On Tuesday, clashes broke out in Islamabad between security forces and thousands of supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who entered the capital early to demand the release of their champion, despite an unprecedented security deployment.

On the expressway at the western entrance to Islamabad, the processions of demonstrators galvanized by Bushra Bibi, the wife of the former cricket star who had just been released from prison, who called for them to advance on loudspeakers, entered the capital.

Not without difficulty: first, they had to move the hundreds of containers set up to block the roads. Then, at regular intervals, lines of police and paramilitaries awaited them and fired tear gas grenades and rubber bullets. The demonstrators responded with more tear gas grenades, stones and sticks.

They are now only about five kilometres from D-Chowk, a usual place of protest on the edge of the district where all the institutions of the country are located, the fifth most populated in the world.

The authorities, for their part, report that one police officer was killed and that nine others are in critical condition, without giving further details on the circumstances.

20,000 police and paramilitaries

Since Sunday, “more than 20,000 members of the security forces have been deployed in and around Islamabad,” Mohammed Taqi, spokesman for the police in the capital, had announced to AFP.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, himself, was clear as he repeatedly visited D-Chowk at night: “Those who come here will be arrested.”

Washington has “urged” the Pakistani authorities to “respect human rights and fundamental freedoms,” while calling on the protesters to be “peaceful.”

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While local media have been rumoured all night about negotiations between the government and the Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Mr Khan’s opposition party, few are imagining a calm de-escalation.

Because both sides have been ratcheting up tensions for days around what the PTI presents as “its last act.”

The call for protests had been launched for Sunday. The protesters came from the provinces bordering the capital — Punjab in the east and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a PTI stronghold, in the west.

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“Containeristan”

It took them more than 48 hours to reach the gates of Islamabad, where Mr. Khan, 72, is imprisoned.

On the other side, the authorities had pulled out all the stops, even going so far as to provoke questioning.

At the beginning of the week, Islamabad had triggered “Article 144,” which prohibits any gathering of more than four people — for two months. Punjab, where more than half of Pakistanis live, followed suit on Saturday for three days.

“The authorities live in a siege mentality — a state in which they always see themselves in danger and live in permanent fear of being overthrown,” accuses Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani diplomat, in an op-ed.

“Given the scale of the preparations, one wonders if the Islamabad police are preparing for war,” Dawn, the leading English-language daily, asked in its editorial on Wednesday.

Across the capital, hundreds of containers have been lowered by cranes across roads for days.

“Islamabad is once again going to turn into 'Containeristan'. Is that really necessary?,” Dawn continued.

Schools in Islamabad remain closed while the state has indicated that “mobile internet and Wi-Fi will be cut” wherever it sees “a danger”. Since Sunday, no neighborhood has escaped these cuts.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the country’s leading freedom watchdog, says the blockades “penalize ordinary citizens, especially daily wage workers whose livelihoods depend on freedom of movement.”

“Sacrificing our lives for him”

Khan’s supporters, for their part, invariably brush off the threats.

Kalat Khan, 56, describes himself as “a soldier of Imran Khan.” “We are ready to sacrifice our lives for him and we will go to D-Chowk,” he told AFPTV.

“We will stay there until Imran Khan is freed,” added Rais Khan, 36.

The head of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, Ali Amin Gandapur, continues to taunt the authorities: “You can shoot at us, bomb us and block the roads with your containers. If things get out of hand, you will be responsible.”

Mr Khan, who was in power from 2018 to 2022, is currently facing around 100 charges related to violent protests by his supporters.

In July, a panel of UN experts called for his release, deeming his detention “arbitrary”.

Recently, ten MPs from his party were brought before an anti-terrorism judge for protesting days after a law regulating demonstrations was passed in Islamabad.