Islamabad - Khan says he won't succumb to pressure.
Published: Sat 2 Nov 2019, 10:49 PM
Updated: Sun 3 Nov 2019, 12:51 AM
Tens of thousands of hardliners remained in a protest camp in the heart of Pakistan's capital on Saturday amid tight security, as authorities deployed additional shipping containers and riot police to block access to key government buildings.
The protest caravan rolled into Islamabad on Thursday led by firebrand cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who heads the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party. He's given Prime Minister Imran Khan until Sunday night to resign over the country's economic hardships.
Khan says he won't succumb to pressure.
Rehman has hinted he may try to force Khan to step down by staging a mass march on the 'Red Zone', where parliament, the prime minister's residence, government offices and foreign embassies are located.
Authorities in Islamabad were seen early on Saturday moving more rows of massive shipping containers onto roads leading to the Red Zone. Paramilitary forces were also deployed.
"This mammoth crowd has the capacity to arrest the prime minister themselves from the prime minister's house if he has not resigned within two days," Rehman said on Friday night, while asking Pakistan's powerful military not to side with Khan.
Rehman had initially denied female journalists access to his all-male encampment, which stretches over a kilometre along a highway and into an open area allocated by the government. His ban caused a storm on social media, and women reporters were eventually allowed into the camp.
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