Imran Khan supporters plan sit-in after deadly Pakistan protest

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party has announced a sit-in after thousands of his supporters breached roadblocks and clashed with police for two days to converge in Islamabad in deadly protests that killed at least five people.

The violence erupted when protesters demanding the release pf jailed opposition leader Khan entered the capital late Monday, defying efforts by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government to stop them from entering Islamabad. The South Asian nation’s KSE-100 Index fell 3.2%, the most in 11 months, at close, swinging from an earlier gain of as much as 1.8%.

Ali Amin Gandapur, a senior leader of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, announced the sit-in at a key intersection, known as D-Chowk, until their demands were met, the party said. The location is outside the capital’s Red Zone that is hosting Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who is on an official three-day visit to Pakistan since Monday. The area houses all key state buildings from the Parliament to the Supreme Court and embassies.

The government ministers and leaders of Khan’s party have blamed each other for the violence that forced Pakistan’s government to call in the army to secure key areas of the capital. Sharif’s administration gave army the permission to “shoot on sight,” according to reports by local television channels.

“The government doesn’t want to shoot at protesters,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday and added that at least three paratroopers and a policeman were killed. “The police has been told to tackle the protesters as it wants to.”

His comments came minutes before protesters reached outside the Red Zone after police resorted to tear gas shelling. An earlier interior ministry statement had said four paratroopers were killed in violence.

“We have been showing restraint,” Naqvi had said earlier on Monday. “Nothing stops us from firing back. It will take the paramilitary force rangers five minutes to fire shots and then everybody will disperse.”

Zulfi Bukhari, a spokesman for Khan’s political party, said one of the marchers was killed and 20 others were wounded as the authorities confronted the protesters.

The authorities have blamed the turmoil on Khan’s supporters led by his wife Bushra Bibi. The interior minister has signaled that he intended to hold Khan directly accountable, saying “those who gave the call for the protest and seconded it are responsible for policemen casualties.”

Khan, a former cricket star, has been in jail for more than a year. He faces more than 150 cases, from corruption to inciting violence and misuse of power, which relate to his time when he was the premier and after he was removed from power in a vote of confidence by parliament in April 2022.

The marches began Sunday at Khan’s encouragement and despite a court order last week barring Khan’s party from staging a sit-in in Islamabad. Khan remains in custody despite courts granting him bail or suspending sentences in some of the cases against him.

Authorities earlier said hundreds of Khan’s followers in multiple cities had been arrested in the protests and skirmishes. Those injuries included gunshot wounds, according to Interior Minister Naqvi.

All educational facilities were closed in Islamabad for security reasons, according to a notice from the local administration. The government has also suspended mobile phone services in some areas and banned gatherings of more than five people in the capital.

The stock market’s direction will likely remain under pressure as the political situation plays out, Ali Najib, head of sales at Insight Securities Pvt., said from Karachi. Unless there is a resolution to the protests or some stabilizing political development, the market may continue to slide toward 90,000 points.

The fresh protests are a challenge for Sharif’s government, which has tried to focus on restructuring and reforming the country’s weak economy under a loan and reform program managed by the International Monetary Fund.

The government estimates that the unrest causing is costing the economy about 144 billion rupees ($518 million) daily, according to finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.

In addition to his release, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party wants Sharif’s government to reverse a new law that it says gives the government the power to interfere in judicial affairs.