Pakistan's jailed former PM Imran Khan threatens civil disobedience movement

By Asif Shahzad

Pakistan's jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has called on his supporters to hold a rally next week and threatened to start a civil disobedience movement days after his party led a deadly protest march in Islamabad.

In a post on X on Thursday, Khan asked supporters to converge on Dec. 13 in the northwestern city of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which is ruled by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

He demanded a judicial probe into the crackdown on the Nov 25 protest march which he said killed at least 12 of his supporters and violence on May 9 last year which killed 8. All arrested political workers should also be released, he said.

"If these two demands are not met, a civil disobedience movement will start from December 14, and the government will be held responsible for any consequences," Khan said.

The government denies any deaths during the Nov 25 protest march, and says that Khan's supporters had attacked military installations on May 9 last year.

Khan was indicted on Thursday on charges of directing the May 9 attacks, to which he pleaded not guilty.

The indictment was the latest in dozens of cases against the 72-year-old former cricket star, who has been in jail since late last year.

He and his party say the cases were made up to keep him out of politics at the behest of the military after he had fallen out with the army's generals ahead of his 2022 ouster.

The army denies the accusation.