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.
'Positive spirit'
In a statement on Friday, PTI said it was prepared to go ahead with the protests, but party official Haleem Adil Sheikh said negotiations could move forward if the government showed flexibility on demands including the release of Khan's sisters, who were arrested last month.
"We are talking to the government today in a positive spirit," he said.
Khan, a 73-year-old former cricket star, has been behind bars since August 2023 and faces scores of charges ranging from corruption to treason and inciting violence following widespread anti-establishment riots in May 2023.
He and his legal team reject the allegations, branding them as politically motivated cases aimed at neutralising his popularity.
The seizure of shipping containers by authorities has had a chilling effect on haulage companies with drivers unwilling to travel some routes in case their cargoes are seized and used as barriers.
Imdad Hussain Naqvi, senior vice president of All Pakistan Goods Transport Owners Association told AFP that more than 2,500 containers had been stopped by the police in Islamabad and the surrounding areas.
"The government doesn't even pay us for the containers. Our containers have been stuck for almost 25 days," he said.