KARACHI: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday vowed to continue protests against alleged vote manipulation in the 2024 general elections, as the party held protests to mark a “Black Day” on the first anniversary of the polls.
Hundreds of Khan supporters took part in a rally in Pakistan’s northwestern Swabi city on Saturday evening, responding to the PTI’s call to mark Feb. 8 as a Black Day with anti-government protests and rallies.
National polls held last year on Feb. 8 were marred by a countrywide shutdown of cell phone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by opposition parties like the PTI and opposition faction Jamaat-e-Islami.
The caretaker government, which oversaw the electoral exercise, and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), deny the charges. However, the US House of Representatives and several European countries have called on Islamabad to open a probe into the allegations — a move Pakistan’s current government has thus far rejected.
The PTI initially planned to hold a rally in Lahore but, after being denied permission by the local administration, relocated it to Swabi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), where the party is in power.
“When we proceed and raise the slogan of revolution and hold the colors of our flag, you will not tolerate it,” KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said at the Swabi rally.
Talks between Khan’s party and the government, which began in December, broke down last month after the PTI said it would not negotiate unless the government formed commissions to probe violent anti-government protests of May 2023 and November 2024.
“If you’re not ready for talks, we also know how to respond,” Gandapur said. “If you use people and arms bought with our tax money, we will also have arms.”
Junaid Akbar the president of PTI’s KP chapter, warned the party will continue protests further.
“When Khan gives the order this time, we will take care of both your approach and your defense,” he warned the federal government.
In Karachi, the PTI had planned to hold a rally at the Karachi Press Club but police attempted to halt the protest, forcing hundreds of Khan supporters to reach Empress Market to stage a rally.
Separately, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, a member of the government’s negotiating committee, wrote on social media platform X that it now stands non-functional and ineffective, alleging that the PTI wants to proceed with violence.
“PTI has also rejected the prime minister’s offer after unilaterally walking out of the negotiation process,” he said.
“Now it wants to go to the home ground of violent protests.”
In Karachi, the JI protested outside the election commission’s office, demanding the electoral body fix the results of the polls.
“Whoever has won elections should be declared the winner. The people who have reached assemblies are certainly not the winner,” Muslim Pervez, the vice president of JI’s Karachi chapter, told Arab News.
PTI candidates contested the elections as independents after the party was barred from contesting polls under its symbol. While they won the most seats, they fell short of a majority, allowing a coalition of rival parties, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, to form the government.
Pakistan’s government reiterates it won the general elections on the basis of popular support and has repeatedly rejected the PTI’s allegations of rigging.
