Six killed as PTI activists clash with Pak security forces
- PTI supporters will hold sit-in outside parliament
- Imran says his supporters will not back down
- Army deployed in parts of Islamabad
At least six people, including four paramilitary soldiers, were killed yesterday during clashes near Pakistan's parliament between security forces and protesters who are demanding the release of former prime minister Imran Khan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif blamed the protesters for the soldiers' deaths, accusing them of ramming the paramilitary troops with a convoy of vehicles.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Zulfikar Bukhari, spokesman for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), said two protesters had also been killed and 30 injured in the clashes.
One of the protesters was shot dead and the other was run over by a vehicle, Bukhari said.
"It is not a peaceful protest. It is extremism," Sharif said in a statement, aimed at achieving "evil political designs". Sharif also said the violence was driving the law enforcement agencies to the "limits of restraint".
In a post on X from jail, Khan, 72, said his message to his supporters was to fight till the end.
"We will not back down until our demands are met," he said, accusing security forces of firing on peaceful party workers. "All protesting Pakistanis stay peaceful, united and stand firm until our demands are met - this is the struggle for Pakistan's survival and true freedom", he said.
The violence erupted at the end of a march led by Khan's wife Bushra Bibi and his key aide Ali Amin Gandapur that arrived in Islamabad early yesterday.
Calling for the government's resignation among other demands, the marchers ransacked vehicles and set a police kiosk on fire. They also attacked and wounded journalists at two separate locations, people from two media houses told Reuters.
The interior ministry said the army had been deployed to protect diplomatic missions in the fortified red zone area where government buildings and embassies are located. Authorities have said a curfew could be imposed in the capital.
PTI rejected Sharif's accusation that the paramilitary troops had been rammed, and it reiterated that party supporters would hold a sit-in outside the parliament until their demands were met.
The protest march, which Khan has described as the "final call", is one of many his party has held to seek his release since he was jailed in August last year.
PTI supporters last marched on Islamabad in October, sparking days of clashes with police in which one officer was killed, but this week's protest is bigger in size and more violent, authorities said.
They said the protesters were now armed with steel rods, slingshots and sticks and were setting fire to trees and grass as they marched. Reuters witnesses heard firing around the protests, although it was not clear who was responsible.
PTI has also called for a rollback of constitutional amendments it says the government made to handcuff the judiciary, which has questioned the legitimacy of several cases against Khan.
Comments