Pakistan is a violent country, just ask Malala Yousafzai. And it's 96.35% Muslim. What does that tell you about Islam?
Khan supporters in Pakistan break through
Islamabad barriers
Former Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in February 2021. His supporters broke through barriers in Islamabad on Tuesday to demand his freedom. File Photo by Chamila Karumarathne/EPA-EFE
Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Thousands of demonstrators supporting former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan broke through barricades around the capital of Islamabad on Tuesday, killing four security service members and moving toward the center of the city.
The roadblocks, which did little to deter protesters, were created by the government before Khan demonstrators reached the city in hopes of slowing them down. The supporters are demanding the release of the former prime minister, who has been jailed for more than a year for fraud and other crimes.
"It is not a peaceful protest," current Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, according to NBC News. "It is extremism."
Pakistan's interior ministry said a convoy of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party protester vehicles rolled through government barricades and ran over paramilitary officers.
Khan's wife, Bushra Bibi, and the chief minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Ali Amin Gandapur, continued to lead the march as protesters moved to the so-called "Red Zone," where many of the country's institutions are situated.
Security forces have fired live rounds and tear gas at marchers who managed to reach the protected Red Zone near government buildings. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said more than 4,000 demonstrators had been arrested under an emergency constitutional law that was invoked.
Officials said protesters appeared to fall back and slow their march in the wave of military tear gas. Some injuries were reported among demonstrators, but no figures of how many have been revealed.
The attempt to free Khan was called off after the deaths and nearly 1000 arrests. Pity they weren't able to organize a successful coup.
At least 26 killed in rail station suicide bombing
in southwest Pakistan
Nov. 9 (UPI) -- At least 26 were killed and 62 wounded when an explosion occurred Saturday morning at the busy Quetta railway station in southwestern Pakistan.
About 100 people were in the vicinity of the blast that occurred as a train was readying to leave for Peshawar at 8:45 a.m., CNN, the BBC and Al Jazeera reported.
"There was a lot of chaos. People were running back and forth," a witness told CNN. "People were lying martyred, some without legs and arms and hands."
The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack in Quetta, which is the capital of Balochistan.
The BLA issued a statement saying a suicide bomber targeted troops who were at the railway station.
The dead and wounded also include passengers, railway employees and security staff, according to local officials.
The death toll rose to at least 26 with another 62 wounded, Balochistan health department spokesperson Wasim Baig told Al Jazeera.
The Balochistan province is along Pakistan's borders with Iran and Afghanistan, and is among the poorest provinces in Pakistan but has many natural resources.
It also is home to several separatist groups and frequently is targeted for attacks.
Since the start of 2024, many attacks have targeted security forces in the area as militant ethnic force, including the BLA, wage an armed rebellion against Islamabad, journalist Saadullah Akhter told Al Jazeera.
The BLA is the largest of the separatist groups and says the Pakistani government exploits the area's natural resources, which include gas and minerals.
Quetta is about 900 miles southwest of Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad.
