Imran Khan calls off talks to end Pakistan protest impasse

Opposition leader insists prime minister Nawaz Sharif must quit first over alleged election fraud.

Pakistani opposition politician Imran Khan addresses supporters outside parliament in Islamabad on August 21, 2014. Farooq Naeem / AFP

ISLAMABAD // Pakistani opposition politician Imran Khan on Thursday called off talks with the government aimed at ending protests to remove the prime minister for alleged election fraud.

Mr Khan and a populist cleric, Tahir ul Qadri, have led followers in protests outside parliament for the past two days, demanding that the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, quit.

Talks to end the stand-off – which began a week ago with “long marches” from the eastern city of Lahore – started on Wednesday but made little headway.

Mr Khan insists the May 2013 general election, won in a landslide by Mr Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party, was rigged, despite independent international observers judging it free and credible.

The former cricket star has demanded Mr Sharif resign and call new elections and on Thursday repeated his insistence the PM must quit before talks.

“The talks with the government are over. How can these talks proceed when we first want resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif?” he said.

“I want to tell you Nawaz Sharif that I will not leave this place until you step down.”

Between them, the protest rallies of Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Mr Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek parties drew tens of thousands of supporters this week.

But as Mr Khan made his address from the top of a shipping container outside parliament on Thursday, there were barely a few thousand scattered across the protest site.

Mr Qadri’s party has said it wants “meaningful dialogue” and the powerful army has called for a negotiated end to the showdown.

A number of Pakistan’s key trade partners – and aid donors – including the United States, Britain and the European Union have also urged a political solution.

The showdown has added to instability in a country that has had three military coups since its creation in 1947 and which is struggling with a homegrown Taliban insurgency, a crippling power crisis and a sluggish economy.

The two protest movements are not formally allied and have different goals, beyond toppling the government. But their combined pressure – and numbers – have given extra heft to the rallies.

If Mr Qadri’s party were to reach a settlement with the government and withdraw, the position of Mr Khan’s party would be significantly weakened.

Neither movement has mobilised mass support beyond their core followers and opposition parties have shunned Mr Khan’s call to unseat the government and begin a campaign of civil disobedience.

On Thursday the lower house of parliament passed a unanimous resolution rejecting calls for Mr Sharif’s resignation and vowing to uphold democracy.

Lawyers also staged a national strike in protest at the sit-ins organised by Mr Khan and Mr Qadri.

“This style of politics and call for disobedience is harming Pakistan’s economy, a call for civil disobedience is equal to a constitutional coup,” said Yaseen Azad, a senior leader of supreme court bar association.

* Agence France-Presse