ISLAMABAD: The vice president of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party, Maryam Nawaz, called planned anti-government protests a ‘struggle’ for people’s rights, as she and the chairman of a newly formed opposition alliance left the city of Lahore for Gujranwala on Friday to lead street protests aimed at putting pressure on the government to call early elections.
“This is not just struggle of the people, but also for your rights,” Nawaz told supporters before departing for Gujranwala. "We are out on the streets for the rights of 220 million people.”
“Police and administration should not stand in our way,” she added.
Opposition parties recently formed an alliance — the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — which will address public gatherings across the country in the next several weeks. The first rally will be held in the city of Gujranwala today, followed by rallied in Karachi on October 18 and Quetta on October 25.
The government has formally announced that the opposition alliance can hold its gatherings at specifically designated spots. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said the government had allowed the rallies as “protest is the right of every political party.”
PM Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf ruling party came to power in August 2018 after defeating all major opposition parties. The opposition alliance has, however, said the party won a rigged election, which the government denies.
Religious party leader and PDM chairman Maulana Fazlur Rahman told supporters and media ahead of the Gujranwala rally: "We all are committed and united to restore the sanctity of the vote. We don't have personal enmity with anyone, but want to ensure that Pakistan belongs to the people of Pakistan.”
“We are out to remove an unelected parliament,” he said, calling for early general elections.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, ex-premier and senior leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who heads the PMLN, would address the gathering through a video link.
Convicted in 2018 in corruption cases, Sharif is currently in London on medical bail, though local courts have issued his arrest warrants and directed the government to bring him back to face corruption cases.
The opposition alliance was given permission to hold the public gathering after the Gujranwala district administration and the alliance reached a 28-point agreement, which includes following strict coronavirus standard operating procedures at the venue. Protest leaders cannot make speeches at any place other than inside Jinnah Stadium. In case of the violation of the agreement, the district administration has said it will take appropriate action, including by filing police cases against protest leaders.
Last major anti-government protests were held in Pakistan in August 2014 by current prime minister Imran Khan, a hero cricket player turned politician, and firebrand cleric Tahir ul-Qadri who camped on the streets of Islamabad for over three months trying to bring down the then government of PM Nawaz Sharif.
Those protests descended into deadly chaos on one night, with demonstrators clashing with police in a central area near many government buildings and embassies. Three people were killed.
Sharif, who was toppled by the army in a 1999 coup but staged a comeback with a big election win in May 2013, had refused to quit while protest leaders rejected his offers of talks, creating a dangerous deadlock.
Khan called off the protests in December after gunmen attacked a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing 134 students.