Protests in Pakistan

[Samson]

Protesters seeking the release of Imran Khan and his Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have defied the government and marched on Islamabad.

Attempts were made to barricaded them outside the city, but they have succeeded in reaching D-Chowk in Islamabad’s Red Zone, where automatic fire and tear gas are reported.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi says the army has been deployed in the Red Zone after the constitution’s Article 245 was invoked. More than 4,000 protesters have been arrested so far.

At least six people have been killed in protest-related violence, including four members of the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers.

This is all ongoing, I am sure more news will emerge.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1861334393249235040

 

[Samson]

Pakistan police crackdown clears Imran Khan protesters from Islamabad

Pakistan’s security forces have driven supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan from Islamabad following a sweeping crackdown overnight.

Authorities reopened roads linking the capital with the rest of the country, ending a four-day lockdown, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Wednesday, confirming that the city had been cleared.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, a key aide to Khan, said hundreds of protesters who had marched to Islamabad demanding the release of the cricketer-turned-politician had been shot and thousands were arrested in the crackdown. In a separate statement, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party also said eight people were killed, a claim dismissed by the government.

Police had earlier said no lethal arms were used in Tuesday night’s operation and nearly 1,000 protesters had been arrested.

On Wednesday morning, city workers were cleaning up debris and clearing the shipping containers that had been used by authorities to block roads leading into the capital to halt the protesters’ march.

PTI announced a “temporary suspension” of the protests, broadcaster Geo News reported on Wednesday.

Mohammad Asim, PTI’s president for the city of Peshawar in the party’s northern stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told news agency Reuters that the party would “chalk out the new strategy later after proper consultation”.

He said Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, a key Khan ally, had returned “safely” to the province from Islamabad. Police are known to be seeking Bibi’s arrest.

Police have arrested more than 4,000 Khan supporters since Friday and suspended mobile and internet services in some parts of the country. However, services have now been restored.

 

[Samson]

Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi face ‘terrorism’ charges after Islamabad protests

The Pakistani government has filed a series of charges, including one related to “terrorism”, against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his wife, Bushra Bibi, and hundreds of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party workers after protests held in Islamabad this week.

Khan, Bibi and others have been accused of “terrorism”, violations of a law that restricts protests in the capital, attacks on police, abduction, interference in government affairs and defiance of Section 144, which prohibits gatherings of more than four people.

Authorities have already arrested nearly 1,000 workers from Khan’s PTI party who travelled to Islamabad on Sunday to participate in the sit-in in response to their leader’s “final call” to protest against the government.

Khan, the PTI’s founder, has been imprisoned since August 2023 and is facing dozens of criminal cases. Bibi was also jailed for nine months this year before being released in October.

“The health department has issued two statements, one from Poly Clinic and another from PIMS Hospital, stating there have been no dead bodies,” Tarar said, answering a query from Al Jazeera and referring to two of the largest public hospitals in Islamabad.

The casualty count remains in dispute with PTI leaders issuing contradictory statements, alleging deaths ranging from 10 to 200.

Hospital authorities have refused to share details of the injured and dead, telling Al Jazeera that they were “forbidden” from sharing information, a charge that the government denied. The government added that fake lists were circulating online.

The controversy deepened when journalist Matiullah Jan, a vocal critic of Pakistan’s military, was arrested.

Jan had reportedly been investigating the alleged deaths during the protest for his YouTube channel. An initial police report against him accuses him of drug trafficking, “terrorism” and assaulting police officers.

 

[Kaitzilla]

India and Pakistan might fight a war soon.

https://www.reuters.com/world/pakistan-defence-minister-says-military-incursion-by-india-is-imminent-2025-04-28/

ISLAMABAD, April 28 (Reuters) - Pakistan's defence minister said on Monday that a military incursion by neighbouring India was imminent in the aftermath of a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir last week, as tensions rise between the two nuclear-armed nations.

The militant attack killed 26 people and triggered outrage in Hindu-majority India, along with calls for action against Muslim-majority Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of backing militancy in Kashmir, a region both claim and have fought two wars over.

Both sides have nuclear weapons this time.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/panic-pakistan-india-vows-cut-off-water-supply-over-kashmir-2025-04-27/

"If they stop water, all of this will turn into the Thar desert, the whole country," said Thakhur, 40, before heading back to the river to refill the tank for the spray gun.
"We'll die of hunger."

...

For the first time, India on Wednesday suspended the World Bank-mediated Indus Waters Treaty, opens new tab of 1960 that ensures water for 80% of Pakistani farms, saying it would last until "Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism".

Jeez.

Asif said Pakistan was on high alert and that it would only use its arsenal of nuclear weapons if "there is a direct threat to our existence".

Halting the flow of water would directly threaten Pakistan's existence.

 

[Kaitzilla]

India has begun bombing Pakistan.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/06/asia/india-pakistan-kashmir-conflict-hnk-intl

Islamabad, Pakistan / New Delhi, India
CNN
—
India launched military strikes on targets in Pakistan, both countries said on Wednesday, with Pakistan claiming it had shot down five Indian Air Force jets in response, in a major escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals.

India’s missile strikes early Wednesday morning targeted “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan’s densely populated Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, it said.

Looks like Pakistan managed to shoot down 5 jets of the Indian Air Force.

 

[Samson]

India rebuts Pakistani claims via ‘fact check’ account

India’s Press Information Bureau (PID) is using its dedicated “fact check” account on X to dispute Pakistani reports of the ongoing military exchanges between the sides.

Social media posts claiming that Pakistan destroyed an Indian Army brigade headquarters are false, the PIB Fact Check account claims. Reports of the destruction of the Indian brigade headquarters have been reported by Pakistani media.

Al Jazeera was not able to independently confirm or debunk either of the claims.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

https://bsky.app/profile/noelreports.com%2Fpost%2F3lojsphz32s26

Pope Trumpus I says India and Pakistan habe been fighting by centuries showing big historical knowledge.

I guess this war had not started with Biden.

 

[Kyriakos]

If anyone wanted proof that having nukes won't deter war, when disparity between the sides is so large.

The India-Pakistan war has far greater geopolitical importance than the rest we saw in recent years, because it involves interests from east Asia to the US, including the middle east and Europe.
Perhaps it started now (also) because US and Russia are on friendlier terms, and so China won't have an automatic ally in the second.

Things aren't helped by Pakistan being a third world country which has been run by dictators for decades.

CNN presented this map of commercial air travel over the region (updated two hours ago, apparently)

Al Jazeera was not able to independently confirm or debunk either of the claims.

There is no way that they can be trusted with reporting on this war anyway.

 

[Samson]

There is no way that they can be trusted with reporting on this war anyway.

Al Jazeera is clearly not an unbiased source, but they are about the most comprehensive English language source for this type of news.

 

[Gedemon]

If anyone wanted proof that having nukes won't deter war, when disparity between the sides is so large.

As I said in the other thread, India was surely going to strike Pakistan, and I linked an article about nuclear deterrence between the two countries, explaining very clearly how it works for those who don't know.

it has been updated, the core stay the same, to summarise deterrence is about preventing a full scale invasion on one side, and a first strike in the other side.

India fired missiles into Pakistan, which has vowed to strike back. A look at the nuclear rivals

India has fired missiles into Pakistan, which is vowing a robust response. The escalation comes on the heels of April’s deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Kashmir region.

apnews.com

 

[Kyriakos]

Originally I had as part of my post the note that I wasn't referring to you specifically (then edited to remove it because it seemed a bit too strange to refer by name to one just to say you don't refer to them...)

 

[Civinator]

Some information about operation Sindoor:

Operation Sindoor: Indian Air Strikes and Pakistani Air Defenses

Assessment of force employment, platform vulnerability, and technological shifts

missilematters.substack.com

 

[Smellincoffee]

I'm surprised there's no Indo-Pakistan thread. We've got two nuclear powers actively and physically antagonizing one another.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'm surprised there's no Indo-Pakistan thread. We've got two nuclear powers actively and physically antagonizing one another.

So you posted here rather than start one?

 

[Smellincoffee]

So you posted here rather than start one?

Think of this as seeing if there's any interest in actually discussing it. I'll make one to see what happens, though..

 

[Klaus Hergersheimer]

Correct me if I'm wrong but most residents of Kashmir don't particularly care for joining either Pakistan or India; that's just where the conflict is decided to be.