2014 Tsunami March
[27][28] The protesters neared the prime minister's residence, and pressure mounted on Sharif when the police (especially in Islamabad) seemed to openly defy the government order.
[44] Because of the government's lack of initiative in investigating allegations of electoral fraud, Khan gave it one month to meet his demand; according to the chairman, he had "knocked [on] every door to find justice" in vain.
Although the Azadi march was due to begin at Khan's residence at Zaman Park in Lahore at 10 am on 14 August, it was delayed until 12:30 pm when the PTI chairman addressed the crowds outside his house.
[53] The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) condemned the PML-N workers identified in footage of the clash, and PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi held Prime Minister Sharif and Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif responsible for the attack on the PTI cavalcade.
[22] About 2 kilometers outside Ghakhar Mandi, at 3:35 pm, police with Khan's convoy asked him to leave his "Azadi bus" and ride in a faster, bullet-proof Toyota Land Cruiser.
[60] The PML-N told Khan that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Pervez Khattak should not have abandoned his province, where 18 people died from heavy rain in Peshawar.
[57][62] At 10:55 am on 17 August, federal interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan held a press conference and said that the "government is willing to listen to each and every constitutional demand of PTI and PAT".
[63] At a meeting of PML-N leadership called by Sharif at the prime minister's residence, the party decided to reject Khan's demands as "illegal [and] unconstitutional".
Khan asked his followers to "kick off a civil disobedience campaign" and not pay taxes or utility bills, and gave the government two days to meet his demands.
[65] Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali immediately tweeted that "the law is clear"; if people did not pay their utility bills, they would not receive electricity.
[70] The Red Zone in Islamabad houses the diplomatic enclave and embassies, Parliament, government offices and the presidential and prime ministerial palaces, which had been protected by police and blocked with shipping containers.
[72] Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain asked Khan to reconsider his decision to enter the Red Zone, fearing that his party's march towards Parliament might lead to "confrontation" and "bloodshed".
PTI workers drove cranes towards the shipping containers placed at the edge of the barricaded zone, and a state of emergency was declared at the PIMS and Polyclinic Hospital.
"[79] Responding to Khan's allegations that an army chief received a BMW automobile from Nawaz Sharif, ISPR director-general Asim Saleem Bajwa called the claims "baseless and unfounded" on 20 August.
[80] Bajwa said in an ISPR statement that the "building in the Red Zone are symbol[s] of state and being protected by [the] army therefore [their] sanctity must be respected",[81] adding that the "situation requires patience, wisdom and sagacity from all stakeholders to resolve prevailing impasse through meaningful dialogue in larger national and public interest".
Amongst the judges who facilitated rigging, Afzal Khan named former chief justices Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.
Clashes were also reported in Lahore between PTI supporters and Punjab Police, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) announced a day of mourning in Karachi.
Due to mismanagement, seven people were killed in a stampede after the speech; the management had deliberately closed the stadium gates, preventing the crowd from dispersing.
Khan presented a solution to the political crisis, withdrawing his demand that the prime minister resign and suggesting the formation of a commission under the Supreme Court to investigate the alleged electoral fraud.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Khan's political ally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also remained neutral and expressed a desire to "defuse tensions" between the PML-N and PTI.
Pervez Rashid, remembering the pre-1999 era when the government organised Independence Day celebrations in the nation's capital, revived the tradition to avoid a showdown with the PTI.
PML-N leader and federal minister for planning and development Ahsan Iqbal called the Azadi march anarchy in disguise, criticising Khan for launching an unnecessary protest movement when the country was at war with North Waziristan terrorists in Operation Zarb-e-Azb.
[139] The government ordered the Capital Territory Police to stop any protesters from entering the city while the Independence Day celebrations were underway, thwarting any effort to reconcile with the PTI.
[140] After the alleged threats, Khan coordinated a press conference and warned that he would shut down the entire country if attempts were made to put him under house arrest.
[141] On 17 August, the newspaper Dawn published official statistics that as many as 2,520 PAT and PTI office-holders and activists were detained in 27 Punjab jails under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960 (section 3; 3-MPO).
[144] According to a 31 August 2014 Financial Times article, demonstrators armed with wooden clubs and wire-cutters tried to storm Nawaz Sharif's official residence.
Harf added that the U.S. "urge[s] all sides to refrain from violence, exercise restraint, and respect the rule of law" with "all parties [working] together to resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue in a way that strengthens Pakistan’s democracy".
[149][150] Al Jazeera English reported on 31 Aug 2014 that police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the protesters; some fought back with wooden batons, and others threw stones and firebombs.
On 31 August 2014, PTI central president Javed Hashmi distanced himself from Khan and warned that the party would have to explain its decisions for decades to come if martial law was imposed in the country.
[157] More rallies were held the next day in Gujranwala, Sahiwal, and Sargodha, where PML-N workers carried national and party flags, and portraits of Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif, and chanted slogans in support of their leaders.
