Khan’s get together holds a rally in Islamabad, marking its first present of power for the reason that disputed February elections.
Hundreds of individuals have taken to the streets within the Pakistani capital, demanding the discharge of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been behind bars for greater than a 12 months on what his get together calls are politically motivated prices.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) get together organised the rally in Islamabad on Sunday, marking its first present of power for the reason that disputed national and regional elections in February.
Photos and movies posted on the social media platform X confirmed Khan’s supporters marching in the direction of the capital from numerous components of the nation.
“We is not going to relaxation till Khan is launched from jail,” mentioned Khan’s shut aide Hammad Azhar within the opening speech that set the tone of the rally.
Khan is the one one that can save this nation from the “clutches of corrupt and incompetent politicians”, mentioned Salman Akram Raja, a distinguished lawyer and PTI chief from Lahore.
The Islamabad administration had blocked key entry points into the town, with transport containers and riot police deployed to stop attainable unrest. Social media movies confirmed dozens of PTI activists efficiently pushing away containers to clear the best way at one of many entry factors.
“It was very tough to succeed in the rally. All roads had been blocked. However we’re decided. If there’s a name from Imran Khan to protest and we don’t come, that’s not attainable. We’re with him until our final breath,” Robina Ghafoor, a PTI supporter, advised Al Jazeera.
PTI mentioned the authorities have been harassing employees to suppress attendance on the rally. Visuals aired on native broadcaster Samaa Information confirmed enraged attendees throwing rocks at riot police, who additionally hurled tear gasoline shells to disperse the protesters.
Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, mentioned it was the primary time since Khan’s arrest a 12 months in the past that the PTI was allowed by a Pakistani court docket to carry a rally on the outskirts of Islamabad.
“However the authorities have made guidelines alongside the routes by inserting containers, making it tough for folks to succeed in the venue,” he mentioned.
A spokesman for the Islamabad police, in an announcement, in flip accused the protesters of pelting police personnel with stones, injuring lots of them, together with a senior official.
Khan, a former cricket star, was ousted from workplace via a no-trust vote in April 2022.
He has been in jail since August 2023 and is going through trial for allegedly inciting violence on Might 9 of that 12 months – the day when his supporters went on a rampage and attacked army installations.
An unprecedented arrest and subsequent court docket martial of a former spy chief, who’s broadly believed to have been near Khan when he was prime minister, additionally complicated his case.
Khan denies the allegations. All of his convictions have been either suspended or overturned in latest months.
Furthermore, in July, Data Minister Attaullah Tarar introduced in a press convention in Islamabad that the federal government would ban Khan’s PTI party, citing accusations of inciting violent protests final 12 months and leaking labeled info.
The Human Rights Fee of Pakistan known as the try to ban PTI “an unlimited blow to democratic norms” and mentioned it “reeks of political desperation”.
A United Nations panel of rights experts additionally present in July that Khan’s detention “had no authorized foundation and seems to have been meant to disqualify him from working for political workplace”.