Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who arrived in Islamabad on the night of Wednesday May 25 to Thursday May 26 at the head of several thousand of his supporters, then called on them to disperse, but issued an ultimatum to the government, summoned to convene elections within six days.

The Pakistani police had since Wednesday morning locked access to the capital, placed under close surveillance, and blocked several provincial roads leading there, to prevent the "long march" convened by Imran Khan from reaching Islamabad.

Clashes erupted throughout the day between the police, who used tear gas, and demonstrators who tried to remove roadblocks placed on the road to Islamabad.

At the end of the evening, an order from the Supreme Court finally forced the police to let the marchers into the capital.

Overthrown on April 10 by a no-confidence motion, Imran Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Justice Movement), have held large rallies across the country to pressure the fragile coalition in power, imposed according to him by a "foreign conspiracy".

After a tense day and night, the former star cricketer addressed a crowd of a few thousand supporters in the center of the capital, far fewer than he had expected.

"My message to this imported government is that they must announce elections within six days. Dissolve the assemblies and call an election in June," he said, warning that if not not the case, he would organize a new rally next week.

Clashes with the police  

He then called for an end to the present march and his supporters began to disperse.

The deadline for holding legislative elections is set for October 2023, which corresponded to the end of the mandate of Imran Khan, elected in 2018.

After hesitating, the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif seems to have made the choice to try to revive the country's economy a little, before appearing before the voters.

Imran Khan has been pushed to the sidelines as his own coalition has crumbled under the effects of the dilapidated economy, with growth flat for three years, high inflation, a weak rupee and deepening debt , as well as the deterioration of the security situation.

All day Wednesday, clashes opposed the police to members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Movement for Justice), the party of Imran Khan.

The police used tear gas notably in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Karachi and in the capital.

The Pakistani Human Rights Commission said it was "very concerned about the authoritarian methods of law enforcement".

"The state's overreaction has sparked, more than prevented, violence in the streets," she tweeted.

The government said Tuesday it was determined to prevent the holding of an event that would only aim to “divide the nation and spread chaos”.   

Intervention of the Supreme Court

But as the situation escalated in several places, the Supreme Court intervened in the early evening to order the government to let the marchers gather in the capital, well away from heavily protected ministerial buildings, provided those they remain peaceful.

She also called on the authorities to release those detained by the police for the past 24 hours.

A total of 1,700 people have been arrested since police began raiding the homes of PTI supporters overnight from Monday to Tuesday, according to Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah.

Imran Khan had made a spectacular arrival on the march, part of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bastion of the PTI which governs it.

He had landed in his personal helicopter on a highway in the middle of his supporters in cars or on foot waving flags in the red and green colors of the PTI.

He was elected in 2018 by denouncing the corruption of the elites symbolized by the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) of Mr. Sharif and the Pakistani People's Party (PPP) of the Bhutto family, two long rival parties which have dominated the national political life for decades.

Imran Khan has clung to power, at the risk of further polarizing Pakistani society.

Engaged for several months in a rhetorical one-upmanship, he did not hesitate to claim that his fall was the fruit of a "conspiracy" hatched by the United States.

The charge was deemed fanciful by Washington.

But he finally had to bring himself to see the PML-N and the PPP return to power, this time combined in a coalition government. 

With AFP

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