Protest in Pakistan: Islamabad 2024 Updates

Bushra Bibi led a protest to free Imran Khan – what happened next is a mystery

A charred lorry, empty tear gas shells and posters of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan – it was all that remained of a massive protest led by Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, that had sent the entire capital into lockdown.

Just a day earlier, faith healer Bibi – wrapped in a white shawl, her face covered by a white veil – stood atop a shipping container on the edge of the city as thousands of her husband’s devoted followers waved flags and chanted slogans beneath her.

It was the latest protest to flare since Khan, the 72-year-old cricketing icon-turned-politician, was jailed more than a year ago after falling foul of the country’s influential military which helped catapult him to power.

“My children and my brothers! You have to stand with me,” Bibi cried on Tuesday afternoon, her voice cutting through the deafening roar of the crowd.

“But even if you don’t,” she continued, “I will still stand firm.

“This is not just about my husband. It is about this country and its leader.”

It was, noted some watchers of Pakistani politics, her political debut.

But as the sun rose on Wednesday morning, there was no sign of Bibi, nor the thousands of protesters who had marched through the country to the heart of the capital, demanding the release of their jailed leader.

While other PMs have fallen out with Pakistan’s military in the past, Khan’s refusal to stay quiet behind bars is presenting an extraordinary challenge – escalating the standoff and leaving the country deeply divided.

Exactly what happened to the so-called “final march”, and Bibi, when the city went dark is still unclear.

All eyewitnesses like Samia* can say for certain is that the lights went out suddenly, plunging D Chowk, the square where they had gathered, into blackness.

Within a day of arriving, the protesters had scattered – leaving behind Bibi’s burnt-out vehicle

As loud screams and clouds of tear gas blanketed the square, Samia describes holding her husband on the pavement, bloodied from agun shot to his shoulder.

“Everyone was running for their lives,” she later told BBC Urdu from a hospital in Islamabad, adding it was “like doomsday or a war”.

“His blood was on my hands and the screams were unending.”

But how did the tide turn so suddenly and decisively?

Just hours earlier, protesters finally reached D Chowk late afternoon on Tuesday. They had overcome days of tear gas shelling and a maze of barricaded roads to get to the city centre.

Many of them were supporters and workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party led by Khan.

He had called for the march from his jail cell, where he has been for more than a year on charges he says are politically motivated.

Now Bibi – his third wife, a woman who had been largely shrouded in mystery and out of public view since their unexpected wedding in 2018 – was leading the charge.

“We won’t go back until we have Khan with us,” she declared as the march reached D Chowk, deep in the heart of Islamabad’s government district.

Thousands had marched for days to reach Islamabad, demanding former Prime Minister Imran Khan be released from jail

Insiders say even the choice of destination – a place where her husband had once led a successful sit in – was Bibi’s, made in the face of other party leader’s opposition, and appeals from the government to choose another gathering point.

Her being at the forefront may have come as a surprise. Bibi, only recently released from prison herself, is often described as private and apolitical. Little is known about her early life, apart from the fact she was a spiritual guide long before she met Khan. Her teachings, rooted in Sufi traditions, attracted many followers – including Khan himself.

Was she making her move into politics – or was her sudden appearance in the thick of it a tactical move to keep Imran Khan’s party afloat while he remains behind bars?

For critics, it was a move that clashed with Imran Khan’s oft-stated opposition to dynastic politics.

There wasn’t long to mull the possibilities.

After the lights went out, witnesses say that police started firing fresh rounds of tear gas at around 21:30 local time (16:30 GMT).

The crackdown was in full swing just over an hour later.

At some point, amid the chaos, Bushra Bibi left.

Videos on social media appeared to show her switching cars and leaving the scene. The BBC couldn’t verify the footage.

By the time the dust settled, her container had already been set on fire by unknown individuals.

By 01:00 authorities said all the protesters had fled.