Hours after deadly clashes and crackdown, former Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s party calls off Islamabad protest

PTI also claimed that eight of its workers have allegedly been killed, though police claimed that six people, including four paramilitary forces, have died in the protest.

By: Express Web Desk

Updated: November 27, 2024 11:53 AM IST

2 min read

With PTI having been violently coerced off the streets of Islamabad, Khan still under arrest, and the constitutional amendment still in place, the ruling regime appears to have won the latest round.

Amid the political turmoil created due to protests by former PM Imran Khan’s supporters, his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has announced to call off the high-stakes Islamabad protest sit-in “for the time being” following government crackdown.

A day of clashes between security forces and protesters in Islamabad’s red zone has led to the PTI’s leadership deciding to retreat and call-off the movement. When the protesters moved towards the barricaded D-Chowk late on Tuesday, the security personnel fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.

The decision by the PTI, led by Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, came as Ali reportedly asked the protesters “to go home, have dinner and return tomorrow,” reported Dawn.

The party, on its official X handle posted the update regarding the calling off the protest. It said “In view of the government’s brutality and the government’s plan to turn the capital into a slaughterhouse for unarmed citizens, [we] announce the suspension of the peaceful protest for the time being.”

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PTI in the post also urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi to take cognisance of the alleged “brutal murder of martyred [party] workers” and order legal action against the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.

Meanwhile, an emergency press conference has been called by Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, CM Gandapur and National Assembly Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan on Wednesday.

PTI also claimed that eight of its workers have allegedly been killed, though police claimed that six people, including four paramilitary forces, have died in the protest.

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