Pakistan Government Bans Imran Khan's Long March to Islamabad Amid Massive Crackdown

The former prime minister’s scheduled march on Islamabad on Wednesday is part of a countrywide campaign demanding immediate elections. He was ousted through a no-confidence vote last month, which he alleges was concocted by the US.

Pakistan’s government has banned the ‘Long March to Islamabad’ scheduled for 25 May, labelling the event called by former Prime Minister Imran Khan as “antidemocratic” and looking to spread "chaos and disorder".

Speaking at a press conference in the Pakistani capital on Tuesday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah explained that marchers will be halted so as to avoid "propagate[ing] their misleading agenda".

"They want to come as a mob that has no legal or constitutional status…this cannot be allowed", the minister said, alleging that workers from Khan’s Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) have switched from using verbal abuse to bullets.

"A police constable was killed in Lahore," the minister said, referring to the killing of Kamal Ahmad during last night's raid.

The interior minister accused Imran Khan's Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of spreading chaos by directing party workers to call people from other parties "robbers and traitors." He offered no evidence to back up his claims of PTI involvement.

"Had they not called it a bloody march and talked about spreading anarchy, we would not have stopped them," he said.

In response, Khan blasted the “dictator” government for scuttling his freedom of expression, calling on the country's judiciary and “neutrals” to "do the right thing" during this “defining moment for the country”.

"The country is going to look at your decisions. If you allow this [ban], then the credibility of the judiciary will cease to exist. It would mean that there is no democracy in Pakistan," he said, further asserting that his march will be peaceful.

PTI claim that more than 400 supporters were arrested last night following raids at over 1,100 workplaces, in which employees were threatened against the planned sit-in on Wednesday.

Khan has been holding large public rallies in different cities, labelling his replacement Shehbaz Sharif as a "traitor and corrupt". He also claims that the Sharif government was imposed at the behest of Washington.

Sharif, who replaced Khan last month, categorically refutes the charges, warning his predecessor of legal action for defamation.

Khan has claimed that Donald Lu, the assistant secretary for the US Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, met Pakistan's ambassador to Washington in March, convincing him that Khan should be dismissed through a parliamentary vote. The US has denied the charges, dubbing them as "baseless."