Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said it had deployed the army to defend Islamabad’s heavily fortified Red Zone. Supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan are demanding the jailed leader’s release. 

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed his supporters from jail in a post on the platform X, saying that they had “stood up for their rights [and] engaged in peaceful protests.”

He urged his supporters to continue fighting and to “not back down until our demands are met.”

Imran Khan’s PTI party is demanding the release of the jailed former leader and the resignation of the current government, which it accuses of manipulating February elections.

He called for protesters to make their way to the D-Chowk square, which is a historic rallying point that lies on the edge of the fortified Red Zone that contains key government buildings.