Less than two weeks after the violent crackdown on his “final call” protest in Islamabad, former Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed to continue his struggle and threatened to launch a nationwide civil disobedience movement. In a message on X, Khan-who has been imprisoned since August 2023 on multiple charges-announced the formation of a five-member negotiation team to discuss key demands with the government.
The two major issues the team would work on were the release of under-trial prisoners and the establishment of a judicial commission to probe the violence on May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024. Failure to comply, Khan threatened, civil disobedience would begin on December 14, and the government would be responsible for all consequences.
Khan’s planned movement will ask overseas Pakistanis to reduce remittances and start a boycott campaign, which it intends to expand in the second phase. This comes after Khan was indicted for his alleged role in an attack on military headquarters during protests last year, as well as charges of terrorism stemming from recent protests in the capital.
The protests, which mobilized thousands of Khan’s supporters—primarily from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—saw a severe response from security forces. Led by Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, the crowd faced a swift and brutal dispersal by paramilitary Rangers and police, with many fleeing back to their home province amid the crackdown.
While the government blamed PTI supporters for the killing of four security personnel in the violence, the party said at least 12 of its men were killed, many of them shot. Senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry lashed out at the government for treating Khan as it did, saying keeping a former prime minister behind bars in poor conditions simply increases public resentment.
Chaudhry said that increasing protests is pretty much the only good option Khan has. “This appeal for civil disobedience, however, is contingent upon the success or failure of negotiations, but this is a serious step, because the government’s economy is reliant on foreign aid to a great degree,” he said.
According to political analysts, Khan’s call for civil disobedience is an attempt to recover momentum after recent protests did not yield the desired results. Fahd Hussain explained that holding a mass movement after the last major rally might be tough, especially when the party needs to reorganize amid chaos.
This is not the first time Khan has called for civil disobedience; he earlier led a similar movement in 2014 against the government of then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, asking supporters to stop paying taxes and utility bills. That movement ended after an attack on a school in Peshawar killed dozens of students and prompted a united political stand against terrorism.
Imtiaz Gul, head of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad, called the civil disobedience movement a pressure tactic vis–vis the state, while Cyril Almeida, another political analyst, believes that Khan’s fate hangs between people’s protests and backdoors with the military. It is very improbable because current army chief General Asim Munir has strongly refused any possibility of his returning to power.
Khan, who was the prime minister from August 2018 until he was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022, accused the military of colluding with the US and political rivals to remove him from office. The military has denied the allegations.
