Islamabad: With the government launching a crackdown on protesters led by Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician today appealed to the Supreme Court to save Pakistan from anarchy saying the country is heading towards civil war.
Khan, chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party was addressing the participants of a sit-in here and said that the country is moving towards civil war and warned that a bloody revolution would take place if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government hindered the peaceful anti-government protests.
The PTI, led by Khan, and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) led by fiery cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri, have been agitating since August 14, demanding Sharif's ouster. But Sharif has refused to quit.
Khan urged Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk to order the implementation of the Islamabad High Court directive.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Sunday set aside the orders of a lower court and ordered the release of all arrested supporters of Khan and Qadri, a day after the two leaders suspended talks and mounted pressure on the embattled PML-N government.
The judge had also asked the government to file a reply over the arrests by September 17.
Police had arrested several protesters and a lower court had ordered that 100 opposition activists be sent to jail on a 14-day remand for holding illegal protests and for other violations.
Khan said 30,000 policemen have been deployed at the site and alleged that as soon as the sit-in concludes every night, the policemen start detaining innocent people, snatch their wallets and mobile phones. He further said that 40 of his party supporters were arrested last night.
Khan himself has been booked for forcing police to release his party workers arrested in violation of Section 144 here.
He warned that he would remove the containers himself and in case police stopped the protesters, it would result in clashes.
Khan also announced to hold a historic gathering at D-Chowk here on Friday.
The PTI chief wants Sharif's ouster over alleged rigging in last year's general election which his party lost, while Qadri wants to bring a revolution in the country. At least three people have been killed and over 550 injured during the protests.
