Pakistani capital locked down to thwart rally in support of ex-ruler Imran Khan | World

ISLAMABAD (AP) Authorities suspended cell phone service and blocked main roads leading to Pakistan's capital with shipping containers Friday to try to thwart a rally by tens of thousands of activists demanding the release of the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.

Khan's supporters were attempting to march on Islamabad from the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Khan's party holds power, defying a ban on gatherings imposed this week by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's national government.

Sharif's interior minister said armed supporters of Khan were among the militants trying to reach the capital and warned them to stop, and said they would not face any indulgence. Police brandished batons and used tear gas to prevent protesters from entering the capital.

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

Videos posted online showed police placing shipping containers on bridges and roads on a key highway near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Officials said the provincial government was trying to remove the blockades using heavy machinery.

The protest comes on the eve of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Islamabad on October 15, and Pakistani authorities have announced they will deploy troops to the capital from Saturday to secure the meeting. India's foreign ministry confirmed Friday that its foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, would attend.

On Friday, police reportedly arrested some Khan party supporters in Islamabad, including two of his sisters.

Khan, Sharif's main political rival, has been in jail for more than a year on more than 150 criminal 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.

Sharif came to power after the February 8 vote which Khan claims was rigged.

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.

The province's chief minister, Ali Amin Gundapur, who led a large rally last month near Islamabad to demand Khan's release, planned to join the march alongside tens of thousands of supporters who were heading towards the capital in convoys of buses and trucks, but were forced to stop. due to roadblocks and police tear gas. ___ Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan. Associated Press writer Ashok Sharma contributed to this story from New Delhi, India.

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