Pakistan deploys thousands of security forces in Islamabad ahead of planned protest

Authorities in Pakistan's capital blocked main access routes to Islamabad with double-stacked shipping containers on Thursday and deployed 22,000 security personnel, officials told AFP.

The pre-emptive move came ahead of a weekend march by supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.

Why is Pakistan deploying security forces in Islamabad ahead of the protest?

The deployment responds to a march planned for Sunday by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, its first major street push in months to press for his release. The government's crackdown intensified earlier this week with the detention of party members and Khan's sisters.

Police deployed the personnel to lock down Islamabad, officials told AFP, barring entry and exit to neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Khan's party rules. Key highways, entry points and major intersections were obstructed, completely severing transport links and bringing movement to a virtual standstill. Cars could be seen stuck in traffic jams, with motorbike riders squeezing in and out of gaps between containers.

Pakistan's Information Minister, Attaullah Tarar, denied the city was being put under lockdown. "They do not have to come to Islamabad," Tarar told a press conference in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. "No one will be allowed to shut down the city."

A parallel demonstration originally planned by the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami party and farmers' union leaders over soaring inflation and petroleum levies was suspended following a call with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's administration, leaving Khan's party to march alone.

Who has been detained ahead of the PTI march?

Authorities detained Khan's sisters Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi under Punjab's Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance. The preventive 30-day detention orders issued by authorities accused them of "mobilizing supporters via social media and incitement against state institutions", according to an order seen by AFP journalists.

Dozens of lawmakers, regional leaders and opposition activists affiliated with PTI were also rounded up across multiple districts in Punjab province and the capital, Islamabad. PTI's information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said "almost 1,500" party activists had been detained.

International human rights watchdogs have repeatedly expressed concern over increasing press censorship, mass arrests and restrictions on fundamental freedoms in Pakistan amid the ongoing political impasse. "The targeting of Imran Khan's family and PTI party activists is a flagrant violation of their rights to liberty, freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly," said Babu Ram Pant from Amnesty International.

"Such actions speak to the severity of the current restrictions in Pakistan."

Why is Imran Khan in jail?

The 73-year-old former cricket star has been behind bars since August 2023 and faces scores of charges ranging from corruption to treason and inciting violence following widespread anti-establishment riots in May 2023.

Khan and his legal team reject the allegations, branding them as politically motivated cases aimed at neutralizing his popularity. He received medical treatment this year, with his family and lawyer saying that he had lost most of the vision in his right eye.

Once backed by the country's powerful military establishment during his rise to power, Khan fell out over key appointments and foreign policy before being ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022. He has publicly accused military leadership of orchestrating his removal and running a sustained campaign of political victimization.