Pakistan's government mounted a crackdown on key leaders of Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), raided their homes and offices late on Monday, just ahead of Khan’s scheduled big rally in capital Islamabad. A police constable was also reportedly killed during one of these raids in an alleged firing by PTI activists.

The action came despite the government’s earlier assurance that it would not take coercive measures to stop the rally.

On Sunday, former prime minister Imran Khan announced his long march to Islamabad, demanding the government dissolve the national and provincial assemblies and announce a date for early elections. The government on Monday ruled out these demands, saying the coalition led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will complete its tenure.

The late-night crackdown came after a high-powered party meeting chaired by PM Shehbaz Sharif and attended by his elder brother Nawaz Sharif, three-time former prime minister via video link from London. Senior leaders of PML-N, the main ruling party directed the interior minister to do whatever was required to deal with the PTI’s long march.

Terming the scheduled rally a "bloody march", Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the PTI leaders are inciting a civil war in the country. This came a day after PM Shehbaz Sharif made a similar charge against his predecessor.

Ruling party leaders ruled out giving in to Khan’s demands, saying the government would not be dictated by his pressure tactics. Opposition leaders on Tuesday criticized the government’s action and condemned its move while also accusing the ruling party of harassing their family members.

In April, Khan was voted out of power through a no-confidence vote in the parliament, a move he termed a foreign conspiracy of regime change, backed by the United States.

In an interview with CNN, Imran Khan on Monday said that top US diplomat Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs,  who reportedly used threatening language in a meeting with a Pakistani ambassador, should be sacked for “bad manners and sheer arrogance”.

“This guy should be sacked for bad manners and sheer arrogance. Imagine, telling an ambassador country of 220 million people that you get rid of your prime minister,” Khan said in the interview. The charges have been strongly denied by the State Department.

(SAM)