Imran supporters suspend protest; 4 die in crackdown

Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party on Wednesday formally suspended its protest here blaming the midnight crackdown by the authorities that left at least four dead and over 50 injured even as the PTI earlier claimed “hundreds” were killed in the violent clashes with security personnel.

Amid concerns about the whereabouts of Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, – who were leading the march to Islamabad – the party said they were at Mansehra town, near Abbottabad, of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Authorities began reopening roads and cleaning all major thoroughfares vandalised during the three-day protest by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

The midnight crackdown forced Khan’s supporters to evacuate the D-Chowk and its adjacent main business district of the capital, ending their protest, which his party described as a “massacre” under the “fascist military regime” even as police sources said about 450 protesters were arrested in the crackdown.

“In view of the government’s brutality and the government’s plan to turn the capital into a slaughterhouse for unarmed citizens, (we) announce the suspension of the peaceful protest for the time being,” Khan’s PTI said in a press release.