Pakistan police fire teargas, baton-charge, round up supporters of ousted PM Khan
ISLAMABAD, May 25 (Reuters) - Pakistani police fired teargas, baton-charged and detained supporters of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday to stop them from reaching the capital Islamabad to demand fresh elections, officials and witnesses said.
ISLAMABAD, May 25 (Reuters) - Pakistani police fired teargas, baton-charged and detained supporters of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday to stop them from reaching the capital Islamabad to demand fresh elections, officials and witnesses said.
Political and economic volatility has deepened in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation ahead of a likely announcement by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) later in the day on whether it will resume a $6 billion rescue package.
With foreign reserves falling to $10.3 billion - lower than two months of imports - a fast-crashing rupee and double-digit inflation, Pakistan's political turmoil has compounded its social and economic discontent.
Khan, ousted in a confidence vote last month after losing his partners in his coalition, has urgedsupporters to march on Islamabad and stay there until the new government is dissolved and a date for a fresh election is announced Islamabad's entry and exit routes have been blocked, as well as all important sites, including parliament, government offices and diplomatic missions, officials said. Entry and exit points were also blocked to and from all major cities in Punjab province and on the Grand Trunk Road (GTR), they said.
"No blockade can stop us," Khan said from atop a truck on the GT road on his way to Islamabad from the northwestern city of Peshawar.
"We will remain in Islamabad till announcement of dates for dissolution of assemblies & elections are given," he later tweeted.
The government has said Khan's march is illegal and accuses him of seeking to bring protesters to Islamabad with "evil intentions"