Ex-PM begins march to press for early polls

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan started a ‘long march’ to the nation’s capital Islamabad in the latest attempt to press the government to call for early elections.

Khan launched the protest that he calls a march for “real freedom” standing on top of a makeshift caravan in a convoy of vehicles with his supporters in Lahore, about 270km east of Islamabad. The convoy will make a slow journey to the capital in seven days by making stops in multiple cities.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has allowed Khan permission to protest at a ground in the outskirts of Islamabad.

The former premier has said the protest will be peaceful and supporters will neither block or enter the capital’s so-called red zone, which includes important government buildings and embassies.

“We need to rid the country of looters and thieves who are taking the country’s money for their own interests,” said Muhammad Mazhar, 36, who arrived in Lahore on Friday to take part.

“We need to save the country and change this system, so I am supporting Imran Khan.”

Security has already been tightened in the capital, with hundreds of shipping containers positioned at key intersections, ready to block marchers should they try to storm the government enclave.

Clashes erupted between Khan’s supporters and police during a similar protest in May.

The protest is happening at a time the South Asian nation is looking to recover from catastrophic floods.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the nation deeper into junk on concerns about debt payments.

The nation’s foreign exchange reserves dropped to the lowest in more than three years, before receiving a $1.5 billion boost from the Asian Development Bank this week, and dollar bonds trade in distressed levels.