Imran confident of win in 'battle of nerves' with Nawaz

Imran Khan says sticking point is always going to be Nawaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan says he will not be the first to blink in the "battle of nerves" with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif even as crowds dwindle almost a month into his sit-in outside Parliament.

It has been 26 days since Khan along with Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Tahirul Qadri and thousands of supporters began protesting in the capital, seeking the resignation of PM Sharif over what they claim was massive rigging of the 2013 general elections.

The protest movement has lost momentum since August following clashes with police that left three dead. Speculation that the powerful army may step in to intervene, as it has in the past, reached fever pitch when protesters stormed state broadcaster, PTV.

Since then, opposition parties inside Parliament have backed Sharif, lowering political temperatures as negotiations with the protesters were restarted and attention shifted to the devastation wrought by monsoon floods.

Only a few hundred protesters, dressed in green and red shawls and hats of Khan's PTI are now permanently camped at the site while the two sides attempt to negotiate a settlement to the impasse.

By night however, their numbers swell to thousands as men, women and children dance to patriotic songs between the 61-year-old's speeches in an atmosphere similar to a rock concert.

In an interview with AFP from inside a shipping container converted into a makeshift room, Khan he vowed to fight on until he toppled parliament - which he called a "coalition of crooks".

"I've got a feeling it's not that far (to go). I think it's a battle of nerves. It's a matter of who buckles under the pressure first. I've got a feeling we'll win it,” he said. "The sticking point is always going to be Nawaz Sharif. We have no confidence in him."

Khan also came under fire over the storming of PTV by people wearing the colours of his party and Qadri's that raised fears that the protest leaders were attempting to involve the army.

But after initially apologising for the event and saying his party workers had "become emotional", Khan told AFP the whole affair had been staged by the government to discredit him.

"It was an inside job and there are cameras there that can easily identify the people responsible. We're challenging them to identify those people," he said.

Such about-turns are not new for Khan - who has accused senior judges whom he once supported of helping to rig the elections, and was vocally against an operation against Taliban militants in the northwest before backing it once the army began its action.

And despite Khan's insistence that his supporters are non-violent, he has used heated rhetoric, such as calling for Sharif to be grabbed by the throat and dragged out of his residence.

But his appeal endures thanks to the growing politicisation of the country's urban middle classes, who are repulsed by the traditional dynastic parties.

Though local and foreign observers rated the 2013 polls as relatively free and fair, the government's initial reluctance to act on Khan's demands have fuelled suspicion it may have something to hide.

"It's an illegitimate government. What matters to me more than anything else is the sanctity of every single vote," said Jawad Haroon, a former university professor from Lahore who had come to support Khan's protest.