Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party suspended street protests demanding his release from jail, following midnight raids
Security forces in Islamabad conducted sweeping midnight raids in which hundreds of people were arrested.
Broadcaster Geo News, citing a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) statement, said the party had announced a “temporary suspension” of the protest.
Geo News said that at least six people, including four paramilitary soldiers and two protesters, were killed in the protest.
A PTI spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Thousands of protesters had gathered in the centre of Islamabad on Tuesday after a convoy, led by Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, broke through several lines of security all the way to the edge of the city’s highly fortified red zone.
According to Pakistani media reports, security forces launched a massive raid in central Islamabad, where lights were turned off and a barrage of teargas was fired.
The protest gathering was almost completely dispersed, they reported.
On Wednesday morning, city workers were cleaning up debris and clearing some of the shipping containers that had blocked roads around the capital.
The heavily fortified red zone was empty of protesters.
According to Reuters witnesses, several vehicles that the protesters used were left behind.
These included the remains of a truck from which Bushra Bibi was leading the protests.
PTI had planned on staging a sit-in in the red zone until the release of the former Pakistani leader Khan.
He has been in jail since August last year.
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 chalk out the new strategy later after proper consultation,” Mohammad Asim told Reuters.
He said that Bushra Bibi as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, a key Khan ally, had returned “safely” to the province from the capital.
Pakistan’s benchmark share index jumped more than three per cent in early trade on Wednesday.
It recovered losses made on Tuesday when the index closed 3.6% down over the news of political clashes.
