Lahore: Supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took out a rally at Liberty Chowk in Lahore against the ouster of former Prime Minister and party president Imran Khan from power through a no-confidence motion moved by the opposition. The rally of PTI supporters started at 9 pm on Sunday and went on till 3 am on Monday. Several supporters, including women and children, showed solidarity with Khan during the rally.
Large gatherings were also reported from other parts of Punjab province including Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Vehari, Jhelum and Gujarat districts. Large crowds of PTI supporters also gathered in Islamabad and Karachi. On the call of Imran Khan, protests started in different cities after 9 pm on Sunday, which continued for several hours. Earlier on Sunday morning, Khan had tweeted, “Let’s start the freedom movement today” against “foreign forces in regime change” in Pakistan.
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Never have such crowds come out so spontaneously and in such numbers in our history, rejecting the imported government led by crooks. pic.twitter.com/YWrvD1u8MM
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 10, 2022
“It is always the people who defend their sovereignty and democracy,” he said. Khan, in another tweet, shared a picture of the Lahore rally and said that he had never seen such a large gathering. The demonstrations were led by the local leadership of PTI. During this, the workers and supporters of the party were raising slogans against America. Khan has claimed the hand of America behind the removal of his government. They were also raising slogans against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif, who is likely to become the country’s new prime minister on Monday.
Slogans were also raised against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Most of the protesters carried placards that read “Imported government is not acceptable”. This “imported government is not acceptable” was also ‘trending’ on Twitter in Pakistan with over 27 lakh tweets as of early Monday. Former federal minister and senior PTI leader Shireen Mazari said in a tweet, “Such amazing views from Pakistan and abroad… Pakistanis reject US regime change. He said that “Imported government is not acceptable” … is one of my favorite placards.
He also accused the Pakistani media of not portraying the mass protests across the country in a proper manner, especially in Lahore and Karachi. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) later thanked its supporters. In a statement shared on Twitter, the party said, “Thank you Pakistan. We are a nation that stands against any foreign interference, we are a nation that stands with Imran Khan.” A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandiyal on Thursday unanimously set aside the decision of the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly to dismiss the no-confidence motion against Khan. The top court had also ordered the restoration of the National Assembly.
The crucial session of the National Assembly was held on Saturday, in which Speaker of the House Asad Qaiser adjourned the proceedings three times for different reasons. Following the announcement of his resignation, Kaiser asked PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq to preside over the proceedings, following which a vote of no confidence was held and it was passed.
On March 8, opposition parties had moved a no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government. After this, Khan had targeted the US, alleging that there was a foreign conspiracy behind it, but the US had termed the allegations as baseless. The cricketer-turned-politician came to power in 2018 with a promise to create a ‘Naya Pakistan’. However, he failed miserably to address the fundamental problem of keeping commodity prices under check. The current term of the National Assembly was to end in August 2023. (agency)