Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistan police said Wednesday they had arrested nearly 1,000 protesters who marched on the capital demanding the release of jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan, after crowds were evicted from the city centre in a sweeping security crackdown.

Khan has been jailed since August 2023, sidelined by dozens of legal cases he claims were confected to prevent his comeback in elections this year marred by rigging allegations.

Since the February vote, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has defied a government crackdown with regular rallies, but Tuesday’s gathering was by far the largest to grip the capital since the poll.

More than 10,000 protesters surged into the city, defying a lockdown and a ban on public gatherings to skirmish with 20,000 security forces enlisted to turn them back.

Islamabad Police Inspector General Ali Nasir Rizvi said 954 protesters had been arrested between Sunday and Tuesday, when crowds came within one mile (1.6 kilometres) of a public square they aimed to occupy.

The government said at least one police officer and four state paramilitary personnel had been killed, before the main thoroughfare was cleared by forces armed with tear gas and batons early Wednesday.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement that security forces had “bravely repulsed the protesters” as PTI told activists on social media the rally was cancelled “for the time being”.

- ‘High time’ for talks -

Khan made a statement from his cell outside Islamabad calling supporters to the capital on Tuesday.

But the crowds were led by his key lieutenant Ali Amin Gandapur and his wife Bushra Bibi, who was also jailed earlier this year but released last month.

“The movement is continuing and it will be ended only by Imran Khan,” said Gandapur after retreating from Islamabad to northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where he serves as chief minister.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the protests “extremism”. Since Sunday, his ministers held regular press conferences in central Islamabad vowing no mercy for the oncoming marchers.

But as they retreated from the capital, there were growing calls for reconciliation to prevent future flare-ups impacting regular citizens in the country of 240 million.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a statement that Khan and Sharif’s parties should “immediately enter a purposeful political dialogue”.

“It is high time that they agree on a peaceful way forward instead of whipping up the emotions of their respective political workers and bringing the country to a standstill,” the organisation said.

Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at The Wilson Center, said on social media platform X that “Pakistan’s protests had no winners”.

Anger towards the establishment has increased over the crackdown, he said, while at the same time, PTI was forced to retreat.

“Pakistan on the whole is burdened by a worsening confrontation,” he said.

- ‘Excessive force’ -

Sharif’s government has come under increasing criticism for deploying heavy-handed measures to quash PTI rallies.

Mobile internet was cut across Islamabad, schools shut on Monday remained closed Wednesday, and roadblocks prevented thousands of workers from reaching their jobs.

Amnesty International said that “as protesters enter the capital, law enforcement officials have used unlawful and excessive force”.

Khan, a charismatic 72-year-old former cricket star, served as premier from 2018 to 2022 and is the lodestar of PTI.

He was ousted by a no-confidence vote after falling out with the kingmaking military establishment, which analysts say engineers the rise and fall of Pakistan’s politicians.

But as opposition leader, he led an unprecedented campaign of defiance, with street protests boiling over into unrest that the government cited as the reason for its crackdown.

PTI won more seats than any other party in this year’s election, but a coalition of parties considered more pliable to military influence shut them out of power.