Pakistan prime minister’s residence stormed

Demonstrators armed with wooden clubs and wire- cutters tried to storm the official residence of Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's prime minister, yesterday but were driven back by police as a two-week-old political crisis entered a new and violent phase.

At least three people were reported killed and hundreds injured in the clashes in central Islamabad next to the parliament building, with police firing tear gas and rubber bullets and wielding batons.

General Raheel Sharif, the army chief (not related to the prime minister), summoned his top commanders for an urgent meeting late yesterday amid predictions from elected politicians that the armed forces would intervene to impose a solution or even overthrow Mr Sharif.

Mr Sharif won a general election last year in the first handover of power from one elected government to another since the Islamic country was founded in 1947, but he has faced more than two weeks of protests from opponents accusing him of vote-rigging and corruption.

The army, which ousted Mr Sharif’s previous government in a military coup d’état in 1999, has run Pakistan for half of its existence. “In 1977, we had increasingly violent protests that led to General Zia ul-Haq’s takeover,” one recently retired general said, referring to an intervention that lasted until Zia’s death in a mysterious plane crash 11 years later. “The army will never allow Pakistan to fall apart,” he added.

Imran Khan, the cricket star turned politician, repeated his demand for Mr Sharif to resign and called for demonstrations in other Pakistani cities. "I am prepared to die here. I have learnt that the government plans a major crackdown against us tonight," he said. "I am here till my last breath."

Tahirul Qadri, a fiery Muslim preacher normally based in Canada who has led the protests along with Mr Khan, told his supporters: “We will keep on pressing for a revolution. Pakistan’s rulers must be removed immediately.”

Corrupt class

Mr Khan, who leads the Pakistan Justice Movement (PTI) says that the election was rigged and is calling for a new poll. Mr Qadri condemns the whole political class as corrupt and has called for a revolution to save the poor.

The two men led thousands of protesters from Lahore to Islamabad two weeks ago and set up camp in the centre of the capital. Until yesterday, the demonstrations were peaceful.

Pakistan’s army generals are suspected by many elected politicians of having encouraged Mr Khan’s and Mr Qadri’s protests so that they can exert greater influence over Mr Sharif’s government or depose him. With some politicians already complaining of a military coup by stealth, Mr Sharif’s hold on power looks increasingly fragile even though he was elected with a convincing majority in parliament only 15 months ago.

“It’s only going to get violent everywhere in Pakistan. It’s not just clashes in Islamabad,” said Talath Naqvi, a PTI leader, adding that the authorities were also clamping down on protesters in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city and home town of Mr Sharif, Mr Khan and Mr Qadri. The interior ministry said yesterday that the police had been given “a free hand” to deal with the protests.

Negotiating table

“The government’s patience just ran out in the end . . . I can’t imagine this protest being settled on the negotiating table. It will end on the streets.”

Political analysts and Islamabad-based diplomats said the violence made it hard now to imagine a peaceful resolution of the crisis amid hardening opposition to Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz, who is chief minister of the populous Punjab province. Mr Sharif has made some concessions to the demonstrators – on reforms to the electoral system, for example – but has refused to resign and has received the support of elected politicians other than those of Mr Khan’s PTI.

Army generals, although pledging in public to support democracy, are angered by Mr Sharif's pursuit of Pervez Musharraf. A former army chief, Mr Musharraf overthrew Mr Sharif's previous government in a military coup in 1999 and ruled for a decade, but is now detained and accused of treason.

– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014)