ISLAMABAD: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party will hold nationwide rallies on April 26 to protest the results of Sunday’s by-elections in Pakistan, PTI members said on Monday.
Pakistan conducted by-polls in 21 national and provincial constituencies on Sunday amid a partial suspension of mobile phone networks in parts of Punjab and Balochistan provinces. The polls were the first major electoral exercise since the Feb. 8 national election, marred by a nationwide mobile Internet shutdown on election day, arrests and violence in its build-up and unusually delayed results, leading to accusations that the vote was rigged.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, which formed a coalition in the center after Feb. 8 polls, won two out of the five national seats and 10 out of 16 provincial seats, according to unofficial results reported widely by local media.
Speaking at a press conference, members of Khan’s PTI said the by-polls were “blatantly rigged” in Gujrat, Sheikhupura, Lahore and elsewhere in the country, and announced a series of demonstrations to protest the results.
“This Friday... we call for a protest in all four provinces,” said Omar Ayub, opposition leader in the National Assembly, adding that protests would follow in Faisalabad, Karachi and others parts of the country soon.
PTI Chairman Gohar Khan said April 21 was a “black day for democracy” in the country.
“I have neither seen such blatant and open violation of law, nor have I heard of it,” he said. “We demand the election commission that those who rigged [the polls] in Punjab, their notification be withheld.”
Khan, who was PM from 2018-2022, remains jailed in multiple cases, including a 14-year jail sentence for him and his wife for the illegal sale of state gifts. Khan was first imprisoned after being handed a three-year prison sentence in August 2023 by the Election Commission for not declaring assets earned from selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000) in state possession and received during his premiership. In January, Khan and wife Bushra Bibi were handed 14-year jail terms following a separate investigation by the country’s top anti-graft body into the same charges involving state gifts.
An anti-graft court in Islamabad also handed Khan a 10-year jail term in January for revealing state secrets, a week before national elections on Feb. 8. In February, Khan and his wife were also sentenced to seven years on charges they violated the country’s marriage law when they wed in 2018 — the fourth sentence so far for Khan and the second for his wife.
Khan has also been indicted under Pakistan’s anti-terrorism law in connection with violence against the military that erupted following his brief arrest related to the Al-Qadir case on May 9. A section of Pakistan’s 1997 anti-terrorism act prescribes the death penalty as maximum punishment. Khan has denied the charges under the anti-terrorism law, saying he was in detention when the violence took place.
Khan’s convictions mean he is banned from holding public office and ruled the 71-year-old out of general elections earlier this year. Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says all cases against him are motivated to keep him out of politics.
