ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has summoned rallies in the Pakistani cities of Peshawar, Karachi and Lahore, in an attempt to mobilize the masses for a snap election in the South Asian country.
Khan resigned as a member of the National Assembly on Monday, a day after his ouster from the country’s top political office in a no-confidence vote. The former PM says the new government of Shehbaz Sharif is “imported” and was brought to power through a foreign conspiracy orchestrated by the United States. Washington has denied the accusations.
On Tuesday, the cricket star-turned-politician called supporters to his first anti-government rally in Peshawar tomorrow, Wednesday, saying they must campaign to ensure that fresh elections were “immediately” announced.
“The biggest message I will give my nation from Peshawar is that you have to protect your independence, your democracy yourself, no one else can do it, no army can do it,” Khan said in a video message. “We have to run a complete campaign that elections should be held immediately in Pakistan.”
Shafqat Mahmood, a former minister and a member of Khan’s PTI, said his party had planned rallies in Karachi and Lahore as well.
“Tomorrow there is a rally in Peshawar. On the 16th [April], there is a rally at Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum in Karachi,” Mahmood told reporters in Lahore.
“And, I want to tell this good news to my fellows in Punjab and Lahore that, God willing, a rally will be held at Minar-e-Pakistan on the 23rd.”
Khan led months-long anti-government demonstrations in August 2014, with his supporters flooding the center of Pakistan’s capital and vowing to stay in the streets until then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned. He called off the protests nearly four months later only after a Taliban assault on a school in Peshawar in which at least 132 students and nine staff members were killed.
“On Wednesday I will be holding a jalsa [public rally] in Peshawar after Isha [evening prayers] — my first jalsa after being removed through a foreign-instigated regime change,” Khan said in a Twitter post on Monday. “I want all our people to come, as Pakistan was created as an independent, sovereign state not as a puppet state of foreign powers.”
“We are demanding immediate elections as that is the only way forward — to let the people decide, through fair & free elections, whom they want as their prime minister,” he added.
The National Assembly of Pakistan elected the former leader of the opposition, Shehbaz Sharif, as the country’s new prime minister on Monday. Khan’s PTI party resigned en masse before Sharif’s election.
Khan’s party to hold rally in Peshawar today to press for ‘immediate’ elections
https://arab.news/g3cv7
Khan’s party to hold rally in Peshawar today to press for ‘immediate’ elections
- Khan says new government is “imported,” brought to power through foreign conspiracy orchestrated by US
- The rally in Peshawar will be held on Wednesday, followed by public gatherings in Karachi and Lahore
Curfew extended in Gilgit-Baltistan, probe ordered after deadly Khamenei protests
- At least 15 people were killed in clashes with law enforcement agencies over the weekend in Gilgit-Baltistan
- Government also announces a de-weaponization campaign, crackdown on hate speech and cybercrime in region
ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region on Tuesday extended a curfew in Gilgit district and ordered a judicial probe into violent protests over the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes last week, an official said.
At least 15 people were killed in clashes with law enforcement agencies over the weekend in GB, where protesters torched and vandalized several buildings, including United Nations regional offices, an army-run school, software technology park and a local charity building.
The violence prompted regional authorities to impose curfew in Gilgit and Skardu districts on March 2-4 as officials urged people to stay indoors and cooperate with law enforcers, amid widespread anger in Pakistan, particularly among members of the Shiite minority, over Khamenei’s killing.
On Tuesday, the GB government convened to review the situation and announced the extension of curfew in Gilgit among a number of security measures as well as ordered the establishment of a judicial commission to investigate the weekend violence in the region.
“The government has made it clear that the law will strictly take its course against elements involved in vandalism at government institutions, private properties and incidents of vandalism in Gilgit and Skardu and no kind of mischief will be tolerated,” Shabbir Mir, a GB government spokesperson, said in a statement.
“In view of the security situation, curfew will remain in force in Gilgit, while the decision to extend the curfew in Skardu will be taken keeping the ground realities and the changing situation in view.”
The statement did not specify how long the curfew will remain in place in Gilgit.
Besides the formation of the judicial commission to investigate the violent clashes, the government also decided to launch a large-scale de-weaponization campaign in the entire Gilgit district, for which relevant institutions have been directed to immediately complete all necessary arrangements, according to Mir.
In addition, a crackdown has been ordered on hate speech, spread of fake news and cybercrime.
“The aim of these decisions is to ensure the rule of law, protect the lives and property of citizens and crack down on miscreants,” he said. “Approval has also been given to immediately survey the affected infrastructure and start their restoration work on priority basis.”
Demonstrators in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi also stormed the US Consulate on Sunday, smashing windows and attempting to burn the building. Police responded with batons, tear gas, and gunfire, leaving 10 people dead and more than 50 injured.
Pakistani authorities have since beefed up security at US diplomatic missions across the country, including around the US consulate building in Peshawar, to avoid any further violence.
