PARTY LODESTAR
Khan had issued a call from his cell outside Islamabad on Tuesday evening, telling more people to join the crowds.
“All Pakistanis participating in the protest must remain peaceful, stay united, and stand firm until our demands are met,” he said in a social media statement released by his party, who often meet him in jail.
The charismatic 72-year-old former cricket star who served as premier from 2018 to 2022 is the lodestar of PTI.
But in his absence the protests were led partially by his wife Bushra Bibi, who was also jailed this year but released last month.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has come under increasing criticism for deploying heavy-handed measures to quash the protests.
Amnesty International said “as protesters enter the capital, law enforcement officials have used unlawful and excessive force”.
Khan was ousted by a no-confidence vote after falling out with the kingmaking military establishment, which analysts say engineers the rise and fall of Pakistan’s politicians.
But as opposition leader, he led an unprecedented campaign of defiance, with PTI street protests boiling over into unrest that the government cited as the reason for its crackdown.
PTI won more seats than any other party in this year’s election, but a coalition of parties considered more pliable to military influence shut them out of power.
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