Supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan block several streets in Pakistan’s capital

Nov. 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Dozens of supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Jan blocked several streets in the country’s capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday as part of anti-government protests after the assassination attempt on the leader of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

Yauar Ali, an Islamabad Police officer, has confirmed that the blockade of streets is hindering movement in the city and has highlighted that “there are families who have been trapped in traffic for hours”, according to the Pakistani television network Geo TV.

In this context, the Pakistani Police have requested permission to intervene and unblock the highway that connects Lahore and Peshawar, also blocked by protesters and that leads from the capital to the Islamabad airport.

The authorities have recalled that “Ambassadors and foreigners use this same road to access the capital” and have warned that any incident during the protests could damage Pakistan’s image internationally.

The protests take place despite the fact that the PTI announced on Monday that the “long march” to the capital, scheduled for this Tuesday, was postponed to Thursday, in the midst of Jan’s conflict with the government of the current prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, who demands the holding of early elections.

During the day on Monday, the former prime minister asked the Pakistani president, Arif Alvi, to “act now” to stop the “abuse of power” and has denounced “a plot to assassinate him” allegedly hatched by Sharif, the Minister of the Interior, Rana Sanaulá and the head of the Intelligence services.

Jan, who became the first Pakistani leader to be impeached in a no-confidence motion in April, was disqualified in late October by the electoral commission for failing to declare money from the sale of gifts and gifts received from international leaders. when he was in charge of the government.

His departure from office was followed by growing political tension marked by turncoat scandals and massive protests for and against the prime minister, denounced by the opposition alliance of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (MDP) as a “puppet” of the Army. The Armed Forces are considered the most powerful establishment in Pakistan since its independence from the British Raj in 1947.