Paramilitary soldiers fired tear gas shells to disperse supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party during a protest demanding the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. – AFP
Four Pakistani security troops were killed on Tuesday in the capital, Islamabad, after being run over by a convoy of protesters seeking the release of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to the prime minister's office. Thousands of Khan's supporters marched on the capital, breaking through barricades in response to his call for a sit-in protest near parliament to press demands ranging from their leader's release to the government's resignation.
"It is not a peaceful protest. It is extremism," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement issued by his office, condemning the bloodshed as being aimed at achieving "evil political designs". Some vehicles in a convoy of protesters ran over security officers, killing the paramilitary officers, it added.
The interior ministry attributed the attacks to "miscreants" but did not identify them further, saying four troops were killed. Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the government's accusations.
Khan's wife, Bushra Bibi, and a key aide, Ali Amin Gandapur, who is the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, led a march that wended its way into the capital early on Tuesday, according to his party and Reuters witnesses. Khan has told marchers to head for a roundabout just outside parliament. His party's demands include a rollback of constitutional amendments it says the government made to curtail the powers of the judiciary.
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