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Bloomberg
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has vowed to defy a government ban on his planned march to
Islamabad for a sit-in on Wednesday to press the administration to quit and call new elections.
Khan plans to create chaos with his protest march and will be stopped, Interior Minister Rana Sana Ullah Khan said in a briefing in Islamabad. However, Khan urged his supporters to take to the streets as planned.
“They don’t have much space in prisons. Get rid of fear,†Khan told his supporters while speaking at a press conference in Peshawar city.
Khan, 69, ousted in April after a no-confidence vote, has held a series of massive rallies to channel the country’s anger over soaring prices against the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Pakistan’s political turmoil and the government’s reluctance to increase petrol pump prices has led to a delay in a loan from the International Monetary Fund, piling more pressure on the economy.
The local currency has dropped to a record low while foreign exchange reserves have fallen to about $10 billion, covering less than two months of imports.
Khan had planned to lead the rally to Islamabad
from northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province that his party governs. Similar protests were slated for the commercial capital of Karachi and some other cities.
The government has already banned the gathering of five or more people in the most populous province of Punjab and detained some of Khan’s leaders in overnight raids in Lahore.
Large numbers of police and paramilitary troops have been deployed across many areas of capital Islamabad. The so-called red zone, which houses key buildings including the parliament, foreign embassies and the prime minister’s office, has been cordoned off.