Supporters of Pakistan's Imran Khan call off protest

27/11/2024 18:00

        The party of Pakistan's jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan suspended street protests seeking his release, it said on Wednesday, following media reports of hundreds of arrests by security forces in a sweeping midnight raid in the capital.
        
        The sit-in had been called off, Zulfikar Bukhari, a spokesman for Khan's party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), confirmed, citing what he called "the massacre".
        
        He was referring to Tuesday night's raid in Islamabad after the protests resulted in the deaths of at least six people, among them four paramilitary soldiers and two protesters.
        
        Visiting protest sites on Wednesday, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Pakistan's law enforcement agencies had successfully cleared protesters from the spot targeted for the sit-in and other areas of the capital.
        
        "I congratulate the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps, Islamabad, Punjab, and Sindh police for their courageous role," Naqvi added.
        
        Thousands of protesters had gathered in the centre of Islamabad the previous day, after a convoy led by Khan's wife, Bushra Bibi, broke through several lines of security to reach the edge of the city's highly fortified red zone.