Pakistan's Imran Khan hits pause on civil disobedience movement

Imran Khan, the jailed leader of Pakistan's main opposition political party, has suspended his civil disobedience movement.

In a message delivered on Tuesday from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, he said: “For now, I am postponing the civil disobedience movement for a few days to decide its structure and timeline."

Khan's call comes a day after lawmakers from the government and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party agreed to engage in talks to resolve their differences in a rare show of solidarity.

However, Khan put forward two demands: the formation of judicial commissions to investigate the events of May 9, 2023, which saw PTI workers attack key military institutions, and Nov. 26 when security forces fatally shot PTI protesters in the capital Islamabad.

"The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has always struggled within the bounds of the Constitution and the law, but the mafia imposed on this country consistently violates both,” he said.

Two demands

“We have two legitimate demands: the formation of a judicial commission to investigate May 9 and November 26 incidents, and the release of under-trial detainees,” he added.

“For now, I am postponing the civil disobedience movement for a few days to decide its structure and timeline," he further said.

Khan said a civil disobedience movement becomes a national necessity when “constitutional rights have been stripped, Parliament and the Supreme Court are under siege, peaceful protests are banned, and citizens are being fired upon."

He invited opposition leaders to meet him in jail.

Khan reiterated the reasons why he had called for a civil disobedience movement in the first place, citing election violations, pre-election manipulation, and rigged election results.

He also said that after the May 9 riots, 10,000 individuals were arrested and “subjected to torture, harassment, and false cases.”

The PTI leader expressed his reservations over the 26th Constitutional Amendment saying it “undermined judicial independence by facilitating the appointment of pliant judges.”

He referred to the shootout on Nov. 26 in Islamabad where he said "12 people martyred before sunset and others targeted under cover of darkness.”

There have been conflicting reports on how many people died when PTI workers decided to march to the high-security D-Chowk seeking the release of Khan from jail.

The government maintains there were five fatalities, but PTI after insisting hundreds had perished, brought the figure down to 12.