Pakistan’s PM Khan refuses to resign as protesters throng capital

Pakistan’s government yesterday rejected an ultimatum for Prime Minister Imran Khan to step down as the military warned tens of thousands of opposition protesters gathered in the capital that they would not be allowed to “create instability”.

About 30,000 protesters led by the hardline Jamiat Ulemae-Islam party descended on Islamabad late on Thursday in a show of political force to demand the removal of the prime minister.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the JUI-F chief, told the Azadi March gathering on the city’s outskirts on Friday night that Mr Khan had two days to stand down.

But the demand was rejected as “out of the question” after Mr Khan’s negotiation team held a day of meetings on how to deal with the stand-off.

Mr Rehman, a one-time extremist firebrand who is regarded as a wily political opportunist, alleges last year’s general election was rigged and he hopes to capitalise on public anger at rising prices and an economic slump.

He asked “state institutions”, a term widely used to mean the country’s powerful military, to stop supporting the “illegitimate government”. Opposition leaders claim Mr Khan won with backing from a military which has ruled Pakistan directly, or pulled strings behind the scenes, for much of its history. The military denies meddling in democracy.

Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, director general of the military’s information wing, said Mr Rehman should “clarify which institution he is talking about”.

“Pakistan’s armed forces are an impartial state institution that always supports democratically elected governments,” he said.

Pervez Khattak, the defence minister, told a press conference yesterday that there would be no discussion of the prime minister stepping down.

The protest is the biggest political challenge of Mr Khan’s premiership and also the first significant test of opposition strength during his tenure.

Mr Rehman’s party has little political clout, but is viewed as a potent grass-roots mobiliser through its network of religious schools and seminaries. Bigger opposition parties have lent their support, although they appeared to be hedging their bets. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Shehbaz Sharif, president of the Pakistan Muslim League, both addressed the gathering.

Major arteries in the city remained sealed by shipping container barricades, amid fears the protesters would break their agreement with the police and move into the capital’s “red zone” housing embassies, ministries and the parliament.

The protesters in Islamabad, who appeared to be mainly from the JUI-F heartlands in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, told The National they were prepared to stay there as long as needed.

Supporters of religious and political party Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) offer Friday prayers before a march to protest against the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad, Pakistan