Imran Khan leads protesters to Parliament inside Islamabad's 'Red Zone'
20 Aug 2014 10:05 AM IST
Imran Khan leads protesters to Parliament inside Islamabad's 'Red Zone'
Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters armed with wire cutters and backed by cranes marched on Pakistan's parliament Tuesday, removing barriers blocking them from soldiers guarding the seat of the country's government.- The military hasn't commented on Khan or Qadri but generally says it does not meddle in politics. In Washington, U.S. State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said authorities there were monitoring the protests.
- Former cricketer turned politician Imran Khan and cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri had picked Pakistan's Independence Day to begin their marches, the day marking when the country became its own nation carved out of India in 1947. In the opaque world of
- Sharif, himself overthrown in the 1999 coup that brought former army chief Pervez Musharraf to power, has been meeting with top advisers ahead of the rally. The government also has invoked a rarely used article in the constitution allowing the
- Khan has said he won't go home without Sharif's resignation, setting up a possible violent confrontation. The standoff has raised fears of political instability in this nuclear-armed country of 180 million, which has largely been ruled by dictators
- "Let us promise that we will remain peaceful," Qadri asked his followers. Khan told his supporters: "No one will trespass into any building." Khan's Tehrik-e-Insaf party has alleged that Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N rigged last year's elections
- Khan, who heads parliament's third-largest political bloc, announced Monday that he and his supporters would march into Islamabad's "Red Zone." On Tuesday, Khan said they would make a "Tahrir Square" outside the parliament, referring to the famed
- The demonstrators have camped out in Islamabad in two rallies since last week. Khan and Qadri have vowed to keep up the sit-ins until Sharif resigns.
- Authorities pleaded for calm ahead of the march, then later warned of possible bloodshed. "They want blood. They want dead bodies. That's their politics," Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said. "If anything happen, the protesters will be held
- Khyber is one of seven autonomous tribal districts along Pakistan's mountainous western border, which became a hotbed of Islamist militants. (Photo: AFP)
- Both men have called on by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down over allegations of fraud in last year's election. Sharif has refused and ordered the soldiers out into the streets, the first military deployment in the capital since Pakistan has
- Women and children also took part in the march as police officers stood by and watched, setting up a possible showdown later between hundreds of waiting soldiers and some 30,000 protesters backing opposition candidate Imran Khan and anti-government
- The protesters, wearing masks and carrying makeshift shields, hammered through barbed wire and locks connecting shipping containers together that authorities put on roads to block off Islamabad's so-called "Red Zone," which also holds the president
Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters armed with wire cutters and backed by cranes marched on Pakistan's parliament Tuesday, removing barriers blocking them from soldiers guarding the seat of the country's government.
Imran Khan leads protesters to Parliament inside Islamabad's 'Red Zone'
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