ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan called on his supporters to march on a heavily fortified area of the capital today after his party announced it would resign from parliament to try to force the government to hold new elections.
The moves are part of a high-stakes showdown following four days of protests in the capital of the nuclear-armed nation led by former international cricketer Khan and cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, who controls a network of Islamic schools and charities.
The government has said Khan and Qadri are free to demonstrate peacefully but will not be permitted to enter Islamabad’s Red Zone, which is home to many Western embassies, the Supreme Court and government ministries.
Khan accuses Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of rigging last year’s election that he won by a landslide. Qadri says Sharif is corrupt. Both have rejected negotiations offered by the government.
Many Pakistani analysts believe Khan and Qadri mounted their parallel protest campaigns because they sensed Sharif’s fraught relationship with his generals had nosedived in recent months.
Any attempt by protesters to force their way into the Red Zone could lead to a violent confrontation.
The area has been sealed off with shipping containers and barbed wire, and is guarded by thousands of riot police, the army and the paramilitary Rangers. Khan has appealed to police not to oppose the march.
“I will lead you and you will follow me,” he told thousands of supporters at a rally on Monday in Islamabad. “I am inviting all families … there will be women and children with us.”