International Courant
Khan’s get together is holding a rally in Islamabad, the primary present of power for the reason that disputed elections in February.
Hundreds of individuals have taken to the streets of the Pakistani capital to demand the discharge of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been held for greater than a yr on what his get together calls politically motivated expenses.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) get together staged a rally in Islamabad on Sunday, the primary demonstration of power for the reason that disputed nationwide and regional elections in February.
Pictures and movies posted on social media platform X confirmed Khan’s supporters marching in the direction of the capital from totally different components of the nation.
“We won’t relaxation till Khan is launched from jail,” Khan’s shut aide Hammad Azhar mentioned within the opening speech that set the tone for the assembly.
Supporters of Imran Khan collect on the outskirts of the capital Islamabad (WK Yousufzai/AP)
Khan is the one one who can save this nation from the “claws of corrupt and incompetent politicians,” mentioned Salman Akram Raja, a outstanding lawyer and PTI chief from Lahore.
The Islamabad authorities had blocked off key entry factors into the town, with transport containers and riot police deployed to forestall potential unrest. Social media movies confirmed dozens of PTI activists efficiently pushing away containers to clear a path at one of many entry factors.
“It was very troublesome to succeed in the rally. All roads have been blocked. However we’re decided. If there’s a name from Imran Khan to protest and we do not come, then it isn’t potential. We are going to stand with him until our final breath,” Robina Ghafoor, a PTI supporter, informed Al Jazeera.
PTI mentioned authorities harassed staff to suppress the turnout on the demonstration. Footage aired on native broadcaster Samaa Information confirmed indignant attendees hurling stones at riot police, who additionally lobbed tear fuel canisters to disperse the protesters.
Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder reported from Islamabad that it was the primary time since Khan was arrested a yr in the past that the PTI had been allowed by a Pakistani courtroom to carry a rally on the outskirts of Islamabad.
“However the authorities have put guidelines alongside the routes by putting containers, making it troublesome for folks to succeed in the location,” he mentioned.
An Islamabad police spokesman in an announcement accused the protesters of pelting cops with stones, injuring a lot of them, together with a senior official.
Khan, a former cricket star, was faraway from workplace in April 2022 by a vote of no confidence.
He has been in jail since August 2023 and is on trial for allegedly inciting violence on Could 9 of that yr, the day his supporters wreaked havoc and attacked army installations.
The unprecedented arrest and subsequent courtroom martial of a former spy chief, broadly believed to have had shut ties to Khan when he was prime minister, additionally sophisticated his case.
Khan denies the fees. All of his convictions have been suspended or quashed in latest months.
Furthermore, in July, Data Minister Attaullah Tarar introduced at a press convention in Islamabad that the federal government would ban Khan’s get together, PTI, citing allegations that he had incited violent protests final yr and leaked categorized data.
The Human Rights Fee of Pakistan known as the transfer to ban PTI “an enormous blow to democratic norms” and mentioned it “reeked of political desperation”.
A United Nations panel of human rights specialists additionally concluded in July that Khan’s detention “had no authorized foundation and appeared supposed to disqualify him from holding political workplace.”
Hundreds protest in Pakistan demanding launch of ex-PM Imran Khan | Imran Khan Information
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