Pro-Khan protestors defy police to reach Pakistan capital

Islamabad: Thousands of protestors calling for the release of Pakistan's jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan defied roadblocks and tear gas to march at the gates of the nation's capital on Tuesday.

The government said one police officer had been killed and nine were critically wounded in two days of clashes with demonstrators as they closed in on Islamabad.

Khan was barred from standing in February elections that were marred by allegations of rigging, sidelined by dozens of legal cases which he claims were confected to prevent his comeback.

His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has defied a government crackdown with regular demonstrations aiming to seize public spaces in Islamabad and other large cities.

The capital has been locked down since late Saturday, with mobile internet sporadically cut and more than 20,000 police flooding the streets, many armed with riot shields and batons.

Last week, the Islamabad city administration announced a two-month ban on public gatherings.

But PTI convoys travelled from their power base in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the most populous eastern province of Punjab, hauling aside roadblocks of stacked shipping containers.

In the early hours of Tuesday protestors were clashing with police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at a western motorway entry to Islamabad.

"We are deeply frustrated with the government, they do not know how to function," 56-year-old protestor Kalat Khan told AFP earlier in the day. "The treatment we are receiving is unjust and cruel."

The government cited "security concerns" for the mobile internet outages, while Islamabad's schools and universities were also ordered to shut on Monday and Tuesday.

"Those who will come here will be arrested," Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters late Monday at D-Chowk, the public square outside Islamabad's government buildings which PTI aims to occupy.