ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s anti-government protesters on Thursday blocked major roads and highways in different parts of the country in a bid to force Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign, demanding fresh elections in the country.
The demonstrators led by opposition leader and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, launched street agitation as part of their “Plan B” to topple the government after failing to push Khan out through a two-week long protest sit-in in Islamabad.
“This protest will continue not for a day but for a month if our leadership instructs,” said JUI-F secretary general, Maulana Nasir Mehmood, while addressing a group of protesters who blocked the country’s main Karakoram Highway — an important trade route between Pakistan and China that also connects the country’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province with its picturesque northern areas.
The JUI-F protesters also blocked other key routes in KP and a main connecting Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
The party’s Balochistan chapter further announced to block the highway connecting Pakistan to neighboring Iran.
Firebrand religious cleric, Rahman, on Wednesday announced to call off his two-week long anti-government sit-in in Islamabad and told his party workers to spread their protest to other parts of the country.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators reached Islamabad on October 31 where they camped for about two weeks, demanding the prime minister’s resignation and fresh polls in the country over the allegations of electoral fraud last year and mismanagement of Pakistan’s economy. The government denies both charges.
Rehman is a veteran politician who enjoys support in religious circles across the country and has a representation in the country’s parliament. As for the closure of the roads, his party has yet to share a detailed plan as to when and where a road would be closed and how long would the new phase of the protest continue.
The JUI-F and other opposition parties have been trying to capitalize on the anger and frustration of the masses against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) administration that came to power last year, promising ten million new jobs for the youth, five million low-cost houses and economic reforms to benefit the middle class.
But the economy has nosedived with double-digit inflation and rampant unemployment due to the closure of industry, as the government signed a $6 billion bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stave off a balance-of-payments crisis.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan has stabilized the deteriorating economy … and Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s ‘Plan B’ will fail like his ‘Plan A,’” Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting, told media.
Anti-government protesters block roads in Pakistan in fresh wave of agitation
Anti-government protesters block roads in Pakistan in fresh wave of agitation
- Firebrand cleric leading the protests called for cross-country agitation
- Prime Minister Imran Khan refused to step down as thousands of protesters camped in Islamabad for two weeks
Bondi Beach suspect father arrived in Philippines as ‘Indian national’ — immigration
- Philippine authorities said the pair spent nearly a month in Mindanao, a region long plagued by militancy
- Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese said investigators believe the suspects were radicalized by Daesh ideology
MANILA: The father and son allegedly behind one of Australia’s deadliest mass shootings spent nearly the entire month of November in the Philippines, authorities in Manila confirmed Tuesday, with the father entering as an “Indian national.”
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, who allegedly killed 15 people and wounded dozens of others at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, entered the country on November 1 with the southern province of Davao listed as their final destination.
“Sajid Akram, 50, Indian national, and Naveed Akram, 24, Australian national, arrived in the Philippines together last November 1, 2025 from Sydney, Australia,” immigration spokeswoman Dana Sandoval told AFP.
“Both reported Davao as their final destination. They left the country on November 28, 2025 on a connecting flight from Davao to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination.”
Police and military sources had earlier told reporters they were still in the process of confirming the duo’s presence in the country.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday that the two men had likely been radicalized by “Islamic State ideology,” referring to the militant group also known as Daesh.
The Philippines’ southern island of Mindanao, home to Davao province, has a long history of Islamist insurgencies against central government rule.
Pro-Daesh Maute and Abu Sayyaf militants — including foreign and local fighters — held Mindanao’s Marawi under siege in 2017.
The Philippine military wrested back the ruined city after a five-month battle that claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
While insurgent activity in Mindanao has significantly abated in the years since, the Philippine army continues to hunt leaders of groups deemed to be “terrorists.”
