Pakistan\u2019s government has banned a planned protest march by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is demanding fresh elections as political and economic crises deepen in the South Asian nation, officials say.
The ban was announced on Tuesday by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah at a news briefing hours after a policeman was shot and killed during a crackdown on Khan\u2019s supporters across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Get ready for sacrifices\u2019 \u2018Evil designs\u2019 PTI says hundreds arrested Pakistan\u2019s government has banned a planned protest march by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is demanding fresh elections as political and economic crises deepen in the South Asian nation, officials say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c59-islamic-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/strong>Khan, a former cricket star-turned-politician, served as prime minister for more than three and half years until he was removed by a no-confidence vote in parliament in April.
Khan has remained defiant since, demanding early elections and claiming his removal was the result of a United States-led conspiracy in collusion with his successor, Pakistan\u2019s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Washington denies any role in Pakistan\u2019s internal politics.
At a news conference in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Tuesday, Khan promised to carry on with the rally in the Pakistani capital as planned on Wednesday.
\u201cI tell my supporters to reach Islamabad and I will also be there,\u201d he said, insisting he was not afraid of death and urging his followers to \u201cget ready for sacrifices\u201d for the sake of Pakistan\u2019s sovereignty.
\u201cYou try to stop us if you could,\u201d he told reporters, saying a peaceful protest was his right that could not be denied.
Khan, who did not condemn the policeman\u2019s killing, defended the shooting by his party official, a retired army officer, asking what should someone do if police barged into their home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sanaullah warned Khan that he would \u201cnot be allowed to disrupt peace in Islamabad\u201d and would be arrested if needed, should the rally go ahead. Sanaullah earlier in the day accused Khan of seeking to create a civil war-like situation.
He said Khan and his aides had termed it a bloody march, which could not be allowed following a sit-in that Khan held in 2014 for more than four months that paralysed the country.
At the time, Khan had rallied thousands to protest against the alleged rigging of an election in 2013, and his supporters had attacked police and threatened to storm the parliament and prime minister\u2019s house.
\u201cThey\u2019re coming to Islamabad with evil designs,\u201d the interior minister said, citing intelligence reports about the march.
Authorities in Islamabad had started putting up blockades at roads leading to important installations, police said, and heavy contingents from police and paramilitary troops have also been deployed.
Large shipping containers were placed on a key road leading to the parliament building in Islamabad, to prevent Khan\u2019s supporters from getting close and possibly staging a sit-in there.
Many entry and exit points around the city of Lahore, 380km (236 miles) from the capital, were also blocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>According to Fawad Chaudhry, a PTI spokesman, police raids against their supporters started shortly after midnight on Monday. Homes were raided on Tuesday morning and at least 400 supporters of the party were arrested across the country, Chaudhry said.
Authorities confirmed the raids but refused to share details about any arrests.
Several other prominent figures from Khan\u2019s party warned police they could face violent resistance if raids on their homes continued.
Khan lost power in part due to his failure to rectify Pakistan\u2019s dire economic situation, including its mounting debt, shrinking foreign currency reserves and soaring inflation.
With foreign reserves falling to $10.3bn \u2013 lower than two months of import bills \u2013 a fast-crashing Pakistani rupee and double-digit inflation, the political turmoil has compounded economic volatility in the country.
Sharif, who replaced Khan last month, has yet to take bold steps towards putting the economy back on track.
Talks are continuing in Doha between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to resume a $6bn rescue package agreed in 2019, and are due to conclude on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"