ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Sunday postponed his anti-government march to Islamabad for a day, after a woman reporter was accidentally killed on way to the capital.
Sadaf Naeem, who was associated with Pakistan’s Channel Five TV station, died after being crushed by a container vehicle, according to the news channel’s managing editor.
Khan told supporters in Sadhoki, some 60 kilometers from Lahore, that he was postponing the march for the day over the “tragedy.”
“Shocked & deeply saddened by the terrible accident that led to the death of Channel 5 reporter Sadaf Naeem during our March today,” Khan said later on Twitter.
“I have no words to express my sorrow. My prayers & condolences go to the family at this tragic time. We have canceled our March for today.”
Khan, who was ousted in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April, has been leading a motorized caravan to the capital to force the government into announcing snap elections in the country.
Khan’s caravan departed from Lahore’s Liberty Chowk on Friday and stopped in the suburban town of Shahdara on Saturday.
It is expected to reach Islamabad sometime next week.
“We have got initial information about the death of our reporter Sadaf. She was crushed by the container vehicle while covering the long march,” Channel Five Managing Editor Furqan Hashmi told Arab News.
“I am going to receive her body along with her family.”
PM Shehbaz Sharif said he was deeply saddened by the news of Naeem’s death.
“[We] extend heartfelt condolences to the family. Sadaf Naeem was a dynamic and hardworking reporter,” he said on Twitter.
“We pray for patience for the family of the deceased.”
Ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April, Khan says his ouster was part of a “foreign conspiracy” backed by the United States — a claim denied both by Washington and Khan’s opponents.
Still, Khan, a former cricket star and national sports hero turned politician, remains a hugely popular figure and his convoy’s journey, expected to be capped with an open-ended rally in Islamabad, could present a significant challenge to the new administration.
The rally could also potentially turn violent if police moved in to disperse Khan’s supporters.
Khan said on Sunday he was only negotiating with the country’s powerful security establishment for free and fair elections, adding he had not reached out to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who did not have much political power.
His comment came in response to Sharif’s statement that Khan had contacted him through a mutual acquaintance one month ago to suggest names of possible candidates who could be appointed as army chief.
“Sharif said I had sent him a message to sit down and discuss the army chief’s appointment,” Khan said while addressing the participants of his protest march.
“Is there any point in talking to you,” he asked. “Do you have the power to give to me anything?”
Khan, however, acknowledged he held negotiations with the establishment on the single-point agenda of free and fair elections.
“I only spoke to them [the establishment] and demanded one thing which was to conduct fair and transparent elections in the country and did not say anything else,” he added.
“I still say today that we want clean and transparent elections. We will accept whatever decision the people of Pakistan make.”
On Saturday, Khan demanded Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa take action against officials of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, who, he said, were allegedly involved in the custodial torture of his party leaders.
The PTI leader also maintained during an interview with an international news organization that a recent press conference held by the directors-general of the military’s media wing, ISPR, and the ISI spy agency contained “lies and half-truths” against him.
