ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan said on Thursday he would not accept the country’s “imported” government while reiterating that his administration was brought down as a result of an elaborate international conspiracy against it.
Khan, who became the first prime minister in Pakistan’s history to be ousted via a vote of no-confidence on April 11, has been demanding fresh elections while vowing to protest until the vote is announced.
Addressing a massive political rally in Lahore, he said that he had never seen so many people at such gatherings.
“I want to give you a course of action,” he told people at the outset of the rally. “We are not going to accept slavery. We are not going to accept the imported government.”
Khan described the new administration of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as “selected,” saying his political rivals were afraid of elections.
The ex-premier reiterated the no-confidence campaign to oust him was backed by the United States, alleging Washington opposed his attempts to pursue an “independent foreign policy.”
The US has repeatedly denied the claim in recent weeks.
He also maintained the foreign powers were not happy with him since he was raising his voice against Islamophobia on various international forums.
Discussing his visit to Russia, Khan said he went to Moscow to secure oil on a 30 percent discounted rate.
Khan said Pakistan’s political system was based on trichotomy of power and supremacy of parliament, adding the two principles were undermined to remove him from power.
He said the new government wanted to establish a commission to look into a diplomatic cable which detailed the conspiracy against his government while noting he would not accept it.
Khan mentioned he would only endorse an open Supreme Court hearing on the issue since he wanted people to know the nature and extent of the conspiracy against his government.
“We have decided to run a campaign for the country’s real independence,” he said, adding: “Be prepared and wait for my call when I am going to ask you to come to Islamabad.”
The former prime minister said he did not want confrontation with anyone, but he was not willing to accept the new government and would fight it until the announcement of fresh elections.
Khan has previously held huge political rallies in Karachi and Peshawar since his ouster.
“We will break our own record insha'ALLAH and today’s gathering will be the biggest ever,” senator Faisal Javed from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said in a tweet before the power show in Lahore.
In a Twitter space that was attended by over 160,000 people on Wednesday night, Khan urged people to leave for the rally at the Greater Iqbal Park after iftar.
The Lahore venue has been significant in Khan’s political career since he held a mass gathering there in October 2011. Over the course of a decade, he has held four public gatherings at the venue.
