ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s party will announce the next phase of its anti-government march and protest on Sunday, a Khan aide said, days after a gun attack injured the former premier.
Khan sustained gunshot wounds to his legs on November 3 as he waved to supporters from atop his container truck in Wazirabad city, on way to the capital to pressure the government into announcing snap elections.
The former premier has since been hospitalized and has postponed his march, while his supporters have been staging demonstrations across the country.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) late Saturday asked supporters to end road blockades in view of a religious congregation near Lahore.
“Chairman Imran Khan has given instructions that wherever the roads are blocked due to the protest, in view of prayer at Raiwind congregation tomorrow, they should be opened so that those traveling for the prayer may not have to face any difficulty,” Asad Umar, a close Khan aide, said on Twitter Saturday night.
“The next phase of the long march and protest will be announced tomorrow (Sunday).”
On Friday, Khan told supporters from the hospital he would resume his march to Islamabad after recovering from the “assassination” attempt.
The ex-premier has accused three people of plotting the hit, naming PM Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer, the counterintelligence chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
Khan was removed from office in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April. Since then, he has frequently criticized the army for not blocking his ouster, which he says was part of a United States-backed “foreign conspiracy.” Washington, Khan’s opponents who are now in power and the military deny the claim.
Khan was voted into power in 2018 by an electorate tired of corruption and dynastic politics, but his mishandling of the economy — and falling out with a military that many say helped him rise — sealed his fate in April.
The ex-premier has repeatedly told supporters he was prepared to die for the country, while his aides have long warned of unspecified threats to his life.
