Pakistan: Violent Riots Erupt in Support of Islamist Ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during the 74th Session of the General Assembly
DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images
Gabrielle Reyes

Pakistan’s army deployed troops to protect Islamabad’s federal government buildings on Thursday in response to riots that broke out on Wednesday during citywide marches in support of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was ousted from the office in April, Pakistan’s Geo News reported.

Pakistan’s federal government ordered soldiers of the Pakistan Army to Islamabad’s “Red Zone” on May 26 to protect the nation’s top federal government buildings, including the offices of Pakistan’s supreme court and parliament. Troops likewise deployed to sections of the Red Zone housing the offices and residences of Pakistan’s president and prime minister and a diplomatic enclave.

Islamabad approved the military effort to combat clashes between police and supporters of the political party chaired by Imran Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), on March 25. Pakistan’s parliament voted to oust Khan from the nation’s office of the prime minister on April 10 in a “no-confidence” vote. Khan’s administration had temporarily blocked the planned “no confidence” motion days earlier on the grounds that it was allegedly instigated by foreign interference and thus unconstitutional. The nation’s supreme court overturned this designation on April 7 and reinstated an ultimately successful vote to remove Khan from office.

Khan has repeatedly accused U.S. State Department members (namely South and Central Asia bureau chief Donald Lu) of spurring Pakistan’s opposition to seek the “no confidence” motion against him. He claims the alleged act was part of America’s greater effort to enact regime change in Pakistan. Imran Khan served as Pakistan’s prime minister from August 2018 to April 2022 and remains enormously popular among Pakistani citizens. Khan has vowed since April 10 to fight what he and PTI have deemed an “imported government,” i.e. the administration elected to replace his. PTI urged its numerous supporters to march to Islamabad on May 25 along with Khan to demand fresh national elections from Pakistan’s federal government, which are not due until 2o23.

Islamabad banned the planned PTI demonstration in the days leading up to May 25. Pakistan’s federal government erected shipping container barricades along strategic roads leading into the national capital that were subsequently overturned or removed by zealous PTI supporters on May 25, according to eyewitness video. Islamabad police officers and PTI demonstrators accused each other of instigating violence during the rallies on Wednesday, which descended into riots in some instances.

PTI leader Dr. Shireen Mazari alleged that “tear gas [was] fired on women and children by the police” in parts of Islamabad on May 25, according to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper.

“There were reports of intense shelling in Islamabad’s Blue Area, with television footage showing smoke rising from the ground and fires in the green belts adjacent to main roads,” Dawn reported on May 25. “The government claimed that the PTI supporters had set the fires whereas the claim from the PTI camp was that the fires were a result of police shelling. Neither claim could be independently verified.”

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