Pakistan Government and PTI Party Hold Talks Amid Planned Protests

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's government and the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan held talks on Friday over planned protests by his supporters that threaten to bring Islamabad to a standstill. In anticipation of the protests calling for Khan's release, shipping containers requisitioned by authorities have stood for weeks along major highways and at key entry points to the Pakistani capital to stop arriving demonstrators. President Asif Ali Zardari's office said representatives from the government and Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party were to meet on Friday to discuss the protests, planned for Sunday after being pushed back from September 27. State broadcaster PTV reported the meetings had concluded for the day and would resume on Saturday. AFP journalists saw the corrugated shipping containers stacked two high, blocking access to Islamabad's heavily fortified government district known as the Red Zone. Skirting the blockade on the back of a motorcycle, Arif Hussain Zahidi, 65, a retired government employee, complained about Khan's ouster in 2022 before the popular politician could conclude a full term. "They didn't let him complete his two and a half years," Zahidi told AFP. "But the problems remain exactly where they were. Our debts keep increasing," he added. Mubashir Aziz Afridi, 29, a dental assistant also travelling by the Red Zone called for dialogue between the politicians. "The government should sit down together and sort out their demands," he said. "It's one sit-in after another, someone's protest today, someone else's tomorrow," he added.