Islamabad at standstill over protests

The chief minister of Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a key aide of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, was detained in Islamabad yesterday by law enforcement agencies, Khan’s party said.
Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was leading a convoy of Khan supporters into Islamabad which clashed with police officers on Friday and yesterday.
He was detained by paramilitary and police forces after he arrived at the official residence of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister in Islamabad, Khan’s spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari told journalists.
Leaders of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party earlier said that Gandapur had been arrested by police.
They later clarified that he had been taken into custody but not formally arrested.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said yesterday that more than 80 police personnel have been injured in clashes with PTI supporters taking part in a march near Islamabad.
The march, which is being led by the head of the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where Khan’s party remains in power, aims to gather in the capital, defying a ban on congregations, to press for Khan’s release and agitate against the ruling coalition.
“The convoy, led by the chief minister, fired on the police and continuously used teargas against law-enforcers,” Naqvi told journalists.
He said more than 80 police officers had been treated for injuries since Friday, when clashes broke out just outside the city during an anti-government rally.
Authorities have sealed off Islamabad and blocked cellphone services to prevent the gathering.
PTI activists began driving to Islamabad on Friday from northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, but were met with shipping container roadblocks and volleys of tear gas.
Yesterday small and scattered convoys pressed in on Islamabad.
“I am so proud of all our people,” said a message from Khan posted on social media site X yesterday afternoon. “You showed unfaltering resilience and courage as you came out yesterday and overcame unbelievable obstacles.”
Islamabad is on high alert ahead of a series of top-level diplomatic events scheduled over the next two weeks, including a visit by India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Naqvi said while the convoy was heavily armed, the police had been instructed not to carry weapons to prevent the situation from escalating.
The government has deployed the army to enhance security in Islamabad.
The protesters plan to gather in the city’s red zone, which houses the country’s parliament and a fortified enclave of foreign embassies.
The PTI denies using violence, and says it wants to hold a peaceful gathering.
Naqvi had previously called on the PTI to delay any gathering until after diplomatic engagements in the city, including a Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) meeting on October 15-16, which will be attended by delegations, including from China, Russia and India.
Naqvi said yesterday that the authorities had intelligence that the protesters planned to disrupt the SCO conference in a bid to gain attention.
“We can’t allow this. I will say to them again, to not cross more red lines - don’t make us take extreme steps,” he said.
The PTI, which says the Islamabad protest is just for one day, is also holding a gathering in the eastern city of Lahore, where a lockdown of roads is in place.
The 72-year-old Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote after falling out with the powerful military establishment considered Pakistan’s political kingmakers.
As opposition leader he led an unprecedented campaign of defiance before becoming tangled in slews of court cases he claims have been orchestrated to prevent his return to power.