ISLAMABAD: Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has instructed his party to temporarily postpone a planned civil disobedience movement in Pakistan, his sister said on Tuesday, calling on the government to release all political prisoners and set up judicial commissions to investigate what his party says were arrests and killings of supporters during two protests.

On Dec. 5, Khan, jailed since August 2023 on charges he says are politically motivated to keep him away from power, said in a message to supporters that he was setting up a five-member negotiations committee to hold talks with the federal government for the release of political prisoners. He also demanded judicial commissions to investigate protests on May 9 last year and Nov. 24 this year in which the government says supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party partook in violence and caused vandalism. If the two demands were not met, Khan said, the party would launch a civil disobedience movement from Dec. 14.

However, speaking to reporters on Tuesday after meeting Khan in prison, his sister Aleema Khan said the jailed leader had been advised by aides that a civil disobedience movement, including a call to overseas Pakistanis who largely support Khan to stop sending remittances, would damage the economy. 

“Party leaders have said this will really affect the economy so Imran Khan has said, “I will wait for a few days, the government should meet these two demands’,” Aleema told the media outside Adiala jail. “Otherwise, if these demands are not met, he will announce a call to stop remittances.”

Pressure on Khan’s PTI party, already at loggerheads with the government and military, has increased since last month when thousands of its supporters stormed Islamabad, demanding Khan’s release. 

The government says protesters killed four security officers in clashes while the PTI says at least 12 of its supporters died and “hundreds” were injured and arrested as security agencies used live ammunition rounds to disperse protesters, which authorities deny. The Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif coalition government says it will take legal action against the rioters and bring to justice suspects behind what it has described as a “malicious campaign” to spread fake online news, images and video content against the state and security forces.

Previously, the government and military have accused Khan supporters of attacking and damaging government and military buildings after his brief arrest on May 9, 2023.

Hundreds of PTI supporters and dozens of leaders were subsequently arrested while police registered cases against the party’s top leaders, including Khan. The army is also holding military trials of over a 100 people arrested in connection with the May riots.