Oppn takes on govt in second power show
karachi — Tens of thousands of opposition supporters rallied on Sunday in the city of Karachi as part of a campaign to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan, who they accuse of being installed by the military in a rigged 2018 election.
Nine major opposition parties formed a joint platform called the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) last month to begin a nationwide agitation against the government.
“We’ve come together to protect and rescue the people of Pakistan,” said Maryam Nawaz, the daughter and political heir of the former three-time premier Nawaz Sharif.
“If this government is allowed to complete its term, that will destroy this country,” she told reporters before joining the rally.
“You could tell how one jalsa (rally) of ours [Gujranwala rally] made Prime Minister Imran Khan shudder in his speech yesterday,” she added.
“When I came to Karachi... I remembered Benazir Bhutto. I just met her once and she spent three hours with me and treated me as a mother would in that time. I will never forget her kindness,” Maryam said.
Earlier, PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said he is confident about the success of the show and eventual fall of the Imran Khan-led government.
“The PPP is going to stage a massive power show, which would tell Imran Khan what the people think about him,” Bilawal told Dawn a day before the power show. “I don’t even have a shadow of a doubt over the success of the PDM campaign.”
“I am frequently arguing that it’s not for our people but for the PM to get panicked,” said the PPP chairman. “He [Imran Khan] has seen his fate. He can no more shift responsibility of his failures on past government for face-saving. People are asking questions and he has nothing to answer. The people are disappointed and this would lead only in the fall of Imran Khan and his government.”
The protest campaign comes at a time when Pakistan is facing economic crisis, with inflation touching double digits and negative growth.
“Inflation has broken back of poor citizens forcing many to beg to feed their children,” said Faqeer Baloch,63, at the Karachi rally. “It is high time that this government should go now.”
The next general election is scheduled for 2023.—