Mr. Sharif has been under growing pressure from Opposition parties, mainly Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), which had vowed that one million supporters would shut down Islamabad on Wednesday as part of long-running efforts to force the government out of power. Sharif’s ruling PML-N party has accused Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of endangering democracy by attempting to draw Pakistan’s powerful military into a political dispute – a sensitive issue in a nation where the army has a history of staging coups.
Over 1,500 supporters of opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf are arrested ahead of a planned protest in the capital Islamabad against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.