Pakistan’s ISLAMABAD Following a massive nighttime security force operation in the capital, Islamabad, that resulted in hundreds of arrests, the party of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan ceased public demonstrations calling for his release from prison, according to local media on Wednesday.
According to a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) statement cited by broadcaster Geo News, the party has declared a temporary halt to the demonstration, which has resulted in the deaths of at least six persons, including two demonstrators and four paramilitary personnel.
Requests for response were not immediately answered by a PTI official.
On Tuesday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in the heart of Islamabad after a convoy driven by Bushra Bibi, Khan’s wife, breached multiple security barriers and reached the outskirts of the heavily guarded red zone.
Security personnel began a huge raid in central Islamabad in the evening, with lights turned out and a volley of tear gas shot, according to reports from broadcaster ARY and Geo News. They stated that the protest crowd was nearly entirely scattered.
City workers cleared some of the cargo containers that had blocked roads throughout the capital and cleaned up rubbish on Wednesday morning. According to Reuters witnesses, the heavily defended red zone was devoid of demonstrators, but a number of their vehicles were abandoned, including the wreckage of a truck that Bushra Bibi had been driving and that looked to have been burned out.
Khan has been detained since August of last year, and PTI had intended to hold a sit-in in the red zone till his release.
The party canceled the demonstration, according to the PTI president for the city of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the party’s heartland in the north.
Following appropriate consultation, we will develop the new plan later, Mohammad Asim told Reuters.
Bushra Bibi and Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a crucial Khan ally, have safely returned to the province from the capital, he claimed.
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