Protests to free former Pakistan PM Imran Khan paused Wednesday as Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi warned protesters that extreme measures will be used if they enter the capital Islamabad.

The party of Pakistan's jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan suspended street protests seeking his release, it said on Wednesday, following media reports of hundreds of arrests by security forces in a sweeping midnight raid in the capital.

Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said a “massacre” unfolded in Pakistan and the armed forces fired live rounds, killing “hundreds of people” and many injured with gunshot wounds. It did not give a number as to how many were killed.