Pakistani capital locked down and telephone service suspended to prevent rally of ex-leader Imran Khan's party

ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistani authorities placed shipping containers on key roads and highways leading to the capital and suspended mobile phone service in Islamabad on Friday in a bid to prevent supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan to organize a rally to demand his release.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government also deployed additional paramilitary rangers and police and closed schools in Islamabad and neighboring Rawalpindi after the Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party refused to withdraw its call for protests .

Videos posted online show police placing shipping containers on bridges and roads on a key highway near the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Khan's party holds power. Officials said the provincial government had mobilized heavy machinery to remove the blockades. Khan's supporters plan to march from the province to Islamabad, defying a ban on gatherings imposed this week.

Police reportedly detained some party supporters in Islamabad, brandished batons and used tear gas to prevent rally participants from entering the capital from the northwest, according to a video posted by the PTI on social media.

Khan, Sharif's main political rival, has been in jail for over a year in more than 150 police cases. He remains a popular figure despite affairs that critics and his party say are politically motivated. He was ousted in 2022 following a vote of no confidence in Parliament and arrested in 2023 after a court sentenced him to 3 years in prison in a corruption case.

The suspension of mobile phone service in Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Friday disrupted communications and affected basic services such as online banking, transport and food delivery services. Many people had difficulty traveling due to obstacles placed on the roads.

On Thursday, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi asked Khan's party to cancel the planned protest and warned there would be no leniency if the protest ban was violated.

He told reporters in Islamabad on Friday that armed supporters of Khan were marching on Islamabad. They should think about what they are going to do with Pakistan by marching on Islamabad with weapons, he said. I am very clear that they will launch an assault on Islamabad, Naqvi said.

He said the government would not allow anyone to cause damage in the country.

Khan's spokesperson Zulfiqar Bukhari rejected the government's request to withdraw the call for the protest, saying it was their constitutional right to hold a peaceful rally.

A post on Khan's social media account urged his supporters to join the protest.

The tyrants in power want to terrorize us, he says. So move forward without fear and don't forget, if you still hesitate, to move forward and truly free yourself.

Sharif's government says Khan's party wants to weaken the country's economy by staging violent protests despite the threat posed by the Pakistani Taliban, who have intensified their attacks in recent years.

Pakistan, which recently received a $7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, is struggling to overcome an economic crisis.

On Friday, Khan's supporters gathered in Swabi, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, to begin a march towards Islamabad.

Provincial Chief Minister Ali Amin Gundapur, who led a large rally last month near Islamabad to demand Khan's release, planned to join the march.

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Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan.

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