PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Four members of Pakistan’s security forces were killed Tuesday when thousands of supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan broke through government barricades and clashed with law enforcement in the capital Islamabad.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that vehicles from a convoy of protesters ran over the paramilitary officers.
“It is not a peaceful protest. It is extremism,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a separate statement from his office.
The protests were sparked by demands for Khan’s release from prison and the resignation of the federal government after what they call a rigged general election this year.
Protesters dismantled roadblocks, including shipping containers, placed along highways and roads to prevent entry. Authorities meanwhile fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse the demonstrators.
Farooq Khan, who lives in Islamabad, told NBC News that the capital had become a “battlefield.”
“We residents have been confined to our homes as all educational institutions and markets have been closed for the past three days,” said Khan, who is not related to the former prime minister.
Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, and a key aide, Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, led the march early Tuesday that wound its way toward the capital, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf said side.
Bibi urged the government not to harm the protesters and told supporters to march peacefully to the Red Zone, where critical state institutions, including the prime minister’s residence and foreign embassies, are located.
Khan, a former cricket icon turned ex-prime minister, has been in jail for more than a year. After he was impeached by a vote of no confidence in parliament in April 2022, he was sentenced to three years in prison. He was subsequently found guilty of revealing official secrets in January and sentenced to a further ten years in prison.
He faces more than 150 other criminal cases, but he and his party remain popular.
Shipping containers were used to stop protesters as they moved towards Islamabad.
He had previously ordered his supporters to stage a sit-in protest at a roundabout just outside parliament, demanding his release and the reversal of recent constitutional changes that they say would weaken the power of the judiciary.
However, Pakistani security forces tried to prevent the protests from reaching Islamabad
On Monday, police fired tear gas canisters at supporters to prevent them from entering the capital.
It came after a court last week banned gatherings in the city, while police arrested more than 4,000 Khan supporters and suspended mobile and internet services in some parts of the country.
The PTI uses messaging platforms like WhatsApp to share information and relies heavily on social media platforms to share details of events. The X platform, which is banned in Pakistan, is no longer accessible even with a VPN.
Police fired tear shots in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
Some PTI leaders held talks with the government on Monday as the federal government offered a designated area for the protest, away from D-Chowk, a major square in the Red Zone.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Khan’s party rejected a government offer to gather on the outskirts of the city.
Amid growing security concerns, the government has called in army troops to strengthen police and paramilitary presence, amid growing security concerns, especially in the sensitive Red Zone.
The escalating tensions reflect a deeply polarized political climate in Pakistan.
Authorities say only the courts can order the release of Khan, who was ousted from the government in 2022 in a vote of no confidence in parliament. His party says the cases against him are politically motivated.
Mushtaq Yusufzai reported from Peshawar and Freddie Clayton from London.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
