Tens of thousands of people attended a rally Thursday night in Lahore, Pakistan, in support of the nation’s former prime minister, Imran Khan, who was ousted from power on April 10 through a “no-confidence” vote by Pakistan’s parliament, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported Friday.
Imran Khan shared video footage of the rally through his official Twitter page on April 22. In an accompanying caption, the former prime minister wrote, “Thank you Lahore for the massive support & the biggest jalsa [gathering] in my 26 years in politics; and the most responsive and passionate audience.”
Thank you Lahore for the massive support & the biggest jalsa in my 26 years in politics; and the most responsive and passionate audience. #امپورٹڈ_حکومت_نامنظور pic.twitter.com/T9UC6x16xm
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 22, 2022
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) political party, of which Khan is the chairman, organized the rally in Lahore on April 21. Khan delivered a “fiery” speech at the event in which he called for Pakistan to hold fresh national elections.
“Whoever has made a mistake, there’s only one way to correct it that [is to] hold elections as soon as possible,” the politician said, as quoted by Reuters.
Khan urged his supporters across Pakistan to prepare to march en masse to Islamabad — Pakistan’s national capital and seat of government — if his call for fresh elections (which are not due in Pakistan until next year) was not met.
“Wait for my call,” he instructed.
“I’m not giving a call just to the PTI but all of Pakistan. You all have to prepare in the streets, cities and villages. You have to wait for my call when I call you all to Islamabad. I want to make it clear that I don’t want a confrontation,” the former prime minister stated, as quoted by Dawn.
“We do not want to hurt our country but we won’t accept this imported government in any way. This movement will gain momentum,” Khan affirmed during his address on Thursday.
The politician referred to a claim he and his former administration made in the run-up to Khan’s removal from office on April 10. Khan had alleged that a planned “no-confidence” motion proposed by Pakistan’s opposition parties on March 8 was the result of a foreign conspiracy spearheaded by the U.S. State Department to enact regime change in Pakistan.
Khan temporarily stayed the no-confidence vote in early April, in part by arguing that the motion was the subject of foreign interference. Pakistan National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri, an ally of Khan, declared the planned “no-confidence” vote “unconstitutional” on April 3. Pakistan President Arif Alvi dissolved Pakistan’s National Assembly later that same day based on the same principle. Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned both actions on April 7, thus restoring the Pakistan National Assembly’s original plan to hold a no-confidence vote against Khan. The motion moved forward on April 10 and successfully voted Khan out of the office of prime minister.
PTI’s April 21 rally in Lahore was the third such mass gathering in support of both the party and Khan since the politician’s ouster from power on April 10. Khan drew “more than 20,000” supporters to a rally in Karachi on April 11.
Dawn reported on April 22 that a group of PTI staff allegedly assaulted a reporter for Pakistan’s 92 TV channel documenting the party’s April 21 rally in Lahore. Eyewitnesses told Dawn the attack occurred after the PTI staff members “alleged the TV channel was airing anti-PTI programmes and they would not allow it to cover the event of their party.”
Dawn additionally reported on Friday that PTI members accused Pakistan’s new government of attempting to sabotage Thursday’s rally in Lahore by blocking access to streets leading into the event space and shutting down internet access in the relevant vicinity.
Shehbaz Sharif, the brother of Khan’s political rival, Nawaz Sharif, replaced Khan as prime minister of Pakistan on April 11. Nawaz Sharif formerly ruled Pakistan as its prime minister from 2013 to 2017. Pakistan’s Supreme Court removed Nawaz from office in 2017 on suspicion of corruption. The top court later convicted Nawaz of corruption and prohibited him from holding political office in Pakistan for the rest of his life.
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