Supporters of Pakistan’s Imran Khan cancel protest, local media says

By Charlotte Greenfield and Mushtaq Ali

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party has suspended street protests demanding his release from prison after security forces in the capital Islamabad carried out a sweeping raid at midnight in which hundreds of people were arrested, local media reported on Wednesday.

Channel Geo News quoted a statement from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), saying the party had announced a “temporary suspension” of the protest in which at least six people, including four paramilitary soldiers and two protesters, were killed.

A PTI spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

Thousands of protesters had gathered in central Islamabad on Tuesday after a convoy led by Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi broke through several security lines to the edge of the city’s heavily fortified red zone.

Geo News and broadcaster ARY both reported that security forces launched a massive raid in the pitch-dark center of Islamabad, turning off lights and firing a barrage of tear gas. The protest meeting was almost completely broken up, they reported.

On Wednesday morning, city workers cleared debris and moved some of the shipping containers that had blocked roads around the capital. The heavily fortified red zone was empty of protesters, but several of their vehicles remained, including the remains of a truck from which Bushra Bibi had led the protests, which appeared to have been charred by flames, according to Reuters witnesses.

PTI had planned to stage a sit-in in the red zone until the release of Khan, who has been in jail since August last year.

The PTI’s president for the city of Peshawar in the party’s northern stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said the party had called off the protest.

“We will work out the new strategy later after proper consultation,” Mohammad Asim told Reuters.

He said both Bushra Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, a key Khan ally, had “safely” returned to the province from the capital.

Pakistan’s benchmark stock index rose more than 3% in early trading on Wednesday, recouping losses on Tuesday when the index closed down 3.6% on news of political clashes.

(Reporting by Mushtaq Ali and Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)