Gunpoint kidnappings to metal spikes: Pakistan tense before big Imran Khan protest

Metal spikes jut across Pakistan's Attock Bridge. The roads leading to Islamabad have been sealed with thousands of shipping containers welded together. Videos of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders being allegedly abducted at gunpoint have gone viral. This is how a jittery Pakistan is preparing itself ahead of a massive march to the capital by supporters of Imran Khan this Sunday.

Such is the panic in the Shehbaz Sharif-led government that the big September 27 march has dominated Pakistan's political discourse over the past two weeks. Pakistan has even arrested the three sisters of the jailed former prime minister, accusing them of being a threat to public order. It was only the beginning of a heavy-handed government crackdown on Imran's relatives and his party leaders. Roads leading to Islamabad have been sealed with thousands of shipping containers (Reuters) advertisement❮❯ Read Full StoryWHY HAS PTI ANNOUNCED MARCH TO FREE IMRAN KHAN?In fact, their lawyer told The Guardian that hundreds of police officers were sent to arrest Uzma and Noreen (Imran's sisters). He claimed that even their children and grandchildren, aged 4 and 6, were arrested along with household staff. Their house was also ransacked during the raids. However, the children were released the next day.

Imran and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have lodged at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail since 2023 after being convicted in a web of corruption cases. Since then, there have been frequent clashes between PTI workers and the police amid rumours of Imran's death in custody.

In these three years, the most significant relief Imran received from courts was last month. In August, the Supreme Court ordered Imran to be taken to a private hospital in Islamabad within 48 hours. Imran was taken to the hospital under the cover of darkness, with events unfolding at breakneck speed.

Before Pakistan woke up the next morning, Imran was back in prison. The government later said the former PM was deemed "medically fit" by the doctors. However, it later emerged that the former PM, who was ousted from power in 2022, was taken to a different hospital.

Imran's doctors have said he was suffering from several health issues, including poor eyesight and extreme stress. His sons, who stay in the UK, have accused Pakistan army chief Asim Munir of a "personal vendetta" and alleged that their father was being slowly killed in prison.

It is against this backdrop that Imran's sisters and PTI announced the September 27 protest march. Despite the crackdown, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Sohail Afridi said the march would take place "at all costs".HOW PAKISTAN HAS CRACKED DOWN BEFORE MARCH?

It is this fear that has prompted the Sharif government to take unprecedented measures to turn Islamabad into a fortress.

The crackdown began days ago, with the government first sealing off the main roads into Islamabad. According to a report in The Dawn, authorities have said the closures were indefinite.

The Attock Bridge, the main crossing between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, has been fortified with metal spikes. The bridge is expected to be the starting point of the PTI's long march.

Authorities have also attempted to wall off Islamabad by placing over 2,000 shipping containers around the capital. The containers have been welded together and fitted with spikes as well. They have been filled with gravel so that they cannot be toppled. All in all, all possible entry points have been barricaded.

Security has also been significantly tightened. Nearly 30,000 security personnel have been deployed in the Attock district alone. Several schools and colleges have been shut to house the security personnel brought in from Punjab and Sindh.

Such high deployment was not even seen when Islamabad hosted the US vice president and the Iranian delegation for peace talks in April.

According to a report in Al Jazeera, police expect the march to draw over 25,000 people. However, if we jog back our memory to May 9, 2023, when Imran was arrested, nearly 50,000 PTI supporters ran riot across Pakistan's streets.

It has not stopped there. PTI has alleged that its leaders were being abducted at gunpoint in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A video has gone viral showing armed and masked men intercepting a vehicle that PTI claimed belonged to KP minister Fazal Shakoor Khan.

The PTI has alleged that the vehicle was stopped by firing at its tyres near the Peshawar High Court. However, the video could not be independently verified by India Today.

An editorial in Dawn said that the Shehbaz government appeared to be preparing "not for a political event but an invasion".

Hospitals in Islamabad have also been alerted for possible violence and a "mass casualty incident", according to a report. Non-essential surgeries have been postponed, and hospitals have been told to maintain reserves of blood bags.

It speaks volumes to the extent that the march to 'free Imran Khan' has rattled the establishment.CONFUSION OVER PROTEST MARCH

However, there is a possibility that PTI might postpone the march amid back-channel talks with the government, Dawn reported.

Advocate Naeem Haider Panjutha, a PTI leader, has put forward two strict conditions: general elections within six to eight months, and release of Imran Khan and other political prisoners. Another PTI leader said the conditions were shared with the government, but there has been no positive response so far.

The fresh development has added to the confusion about the PTI's plans for its September 27 protest.- Ends