Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has given the Pakistani government six days to approve early elections after the end of a rally of thousands of his supporters in Islamabad on Wednesday evening.
On Wednesday morning, Pakistani police closed the entrances to the capital and put them under heavy guard to prevent the march. The march was accompanied by clashes in several places, and police fired tear gas when the demonstrators tried to cross the barriers. Late Wednesday night, the Supreme Court issued a ruling ordering police to let protesters into the capital. On April 10, Parliament passed a vote of no confidence in Imran Khan. His party, the Insaf Movement, has since been trying to mobilize the street to increase pressure on the fragile coalition government to push it to hold early legislative elections.
After a busy day and night, the former cricket star spoke to several thousand supporters gathered in the center of the capital, less than he expected. “The message I want to send to this ‘imported’ government is that it must approve early elections within six days, dissolve councils and call elections in June,” he said. He warned that he would call new meetings next week if the government did not respond. He then called on his supporters to stop the march.
He has no bargaining power.
Then his supporters quietly dispersed, and traffic resumed in the capital, while the rest of the country returned to normal. Political scientist Qamar Cheema said the move was a failure for Imran Khan as police crackdowns prevented his supporters from staying on the streets for as long as he expected. The Pakistan Human Rights Commission expressed “deep concern about the authoritarian methods used by the police”. “The state’s exaggerated response provoked more street violence than prevented it,” she tweeted. Cheema calculated: “With only 30,000 demonstrators, staying in Islamabad to meet with the police was a bad idea. If Khan had managed to gather more protesters, he would not have given the government a deadline. He has no right to negotiate.”
On Tuesday, the government announced that it would prevent the move, which is solely aimed at “division and chaos in the country.” It is assumed that the elections will take place in October 2023, when the term of office of the elected khan was supposed to expire in 2018. It seems that Shahbaz Sharif’s government, after some hesitation, decided to try to improve the country’s economic situation before the elections. Over the past three years, the deteriorating economic and security situation has cost Imran Khan his position, and the Pakistan Muslim League, led by Sharif, and the Pakistan People’s Party, led by the Bhutto family, have returned to power in the coalition government. These two rival parties dominated political life for decades.
“Ready to return”
At a time when the situation was deteriorating at several points, the Supreme Court intervened in the evening and ordered the government to allow the demonstrators to assemble in the capital, but away from the fortified government centers, provided that the movement was kept peaceful. Early Wednesday evening, a court ruled to release those arrested in the past 24 hours and called on the government and opposition to negotiate to organize a peaceful and safe march in the capital. According to the interior minister, police arrested 1,700 Khan supporters during Monday-Tuesday night raids. Khan joined the movement on the show by landing his helicopter on a highway among his supporters in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is ruled by his party.
Although some of Khan’s supporters were disappointed, they expressed their readiness to abide by all of his decisions. In this context, clothing seller Muhammad Uzair confirms: “We will obey him, whatever his decisions are, and we are ready to return in six days.” Imran Khan was elected in 2018 after condemning elite corruption, but parliament announced it on 10 April. Khan clings to power, further polarizing Pakistani society. He did not hesitate to say that his dismissal was the result of an American “conspiracy”, which Washington considers a “fictitious charge.”
