PAKISTANI police clashed with opposition party supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi today (October 28), arresting dozens ahead of a planned protest by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan aimed at unseating the government.
Police charged stone-throwing protesters with batons and fired tear gas at the supporters, who had come out on the streets of Islamabad’s twin-city to demonstrate against arrests made the previous night after authorities banned all public gatherings in the capital for two months.
Municipal workers meanwhile used shipping containers to block major roads leading from Rawalpindi to Islamabad, where Khan has vowed to lead a demonstration on November 2 to demand Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif step down over revelations made in the Panama Papers that his family have offshore bank accounts.
The exact number of arrests could not be confirmed, but a spokesman for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (Movement for Justice) party said 43 workers arrested last night (October 27) were still in detention while others had been released.
A heavy contingent of police meanwhile surrounded Khan’s house in Banni Gala, a leafy suburb of Islamabad, preventing him from leaving - though he has not been formally arrested.
Dozens of Khan’s supporters also gathered around the house, chanting anti-government slogans calling for Sharif to resign.
Sharif is under growing pressure from opposition parties over his children’s offshore bank accounts that were revealed in the Panama Papers leak.
“This will be a decisive and historic gathering, people will come together with resolve to hold the prime minister accountable,” Khan told reporters.
Khan led a previous mass protest in the summer of 2014 that lasted four months, allying himself to populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri to back a sit-in in front of parliament calling for the government to resign over election rigging allegations.
The new protest plan comes at a sensitive time for Sharif, with Pakistan’s Supreme Court due to start hearing a case about the Panama Papers revelations on November 1.
Curator Emma Slocombe with ikat robes and arabachi coats in the Peter the Great Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
View of the entrance to Blickling Hall on a rainy autumn dayAmit Roy 
Kente cloth from Ghana in the Long Gallery in Blickling Hall 
Decoration in the Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Palampore fragment made in coastal south-east India in the Brown Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Bed valance dating from early 1700s in the Italian Print Room at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Indian inspired fabric draped on sofas in the South Drawing Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Indian inspired fabric draped on sofas in the South Drawing Room with Indian carpet in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Karun Thakar has picked out the geometric patterns in the bookcase and the Kente cloth in the Long Gallery in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Large tapestry depicting Peter the Great defeating the Swedish army at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 Amit Roy 
ikat robes and arabachi coats in the Peter the Great Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Baghs and kanthas made by women provide contrast to the men only portraits in the Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Baghs and kanthas in the entrance Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy
Baghs and Kanthas in the Great Hall in harmony with stained glass window at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Kimonos reflect Japanese influence in Upper Ante Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Kimono in Upper Ante Room in Blickling Hall 
A view of the Palace and fort at Agra shows romantic side of India Amit Roy 
Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Table carpet, European 1670-1680 Amit Roy 
Unfinished 17th century Italian embroidery in the Print Room at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Picture of Kashmir shows a romantic view of India Amit Roy 
A panel of Ashburnham bed hangings made in Gujarat for sale in Europe in the Brown Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Colcha made in the 1600s by women in Bengal for the Portuguese market in the Long Gallery at Blickling Hall Amit Roy
