Pakistan’s ex-pm Imran Khan says party will quit all assemblies
Pakistan’s former premier Imran Khan said his party was quitting the country’s regional and national assemblies, as he made his first public appearance since being wounded in a gun attack earlier this month.
Mr Khan, a former cricket star turned politician, was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April.
He is now in the opposition and has been demanding early elections, claiming his ousting was illegal and orchestra ted by prime minister Shahbaz Sharif, with the US government’s help. Mr Sharif and Washington have dismissed the allegations and the current government says the next polls will be held as scheduled in 2023.
Mr Khan launched a protest march late last month from the eastern city of Lahore toward Islamabad as part of his campaign for early polls, but stepped down from personally leading the convoy after he was wounded by a gunman who opened fire at his vehicle. One of Mr Khan’s supporters was killed and 13 were wounded in the attack. The gunman was arrested.
On Saturday, in Rawalpindi city near Islamabad, Mr Khan re-joined the march. He told tens of thousands of cheering supporters that his Tehreeke-insaf party was leaving all regional and national assemblies and getting out of this “corrupt system”.
His party resigned from the national assembly en masse in April ahead of a vote to elect a new prime minister, although most of the resignations have yet to be accepted. Mr Khan’s stronghold is in the
north-west province of khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and leaving the Punjab assembly would hand power to his rivals.
The politician spoke for more than an hour, including references to the Sufi mystic Rumi, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the seventh-century Shiite leader Imam Hussain.
Toward the end of his speech, he did a U-turn on his demand for snap elections, saying his party would win the polls scheduled for nine months’ time. He also said he would no longer march on the capital.
“They [government] cannot deal with a march in Islamabad, they can call as many police as they want, but they cannot stop the hundreds of thousands from entering Islamabad,” said Mr Khan.
“I have decided against marching on Islamabad because I don’t want there to be anarchy in the country. I don’t want to cause any harm to this country.”
Mr Khan said he will meet his chief ministers and parliamentary party and announce the timing of the exit.
The rally came days after the appointment of a new army chief, Asim Munir, who ran the country’s spy agency during Mr Khan’s term in office but was fired without an explanation by the then-premier.
Mr Munir replaces general Qamar Javed Bajwa, who Mr Khan has also accused of playing a role in his ouster. Mr Bajwa denies the allegation.
Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari described Mr Khan’s Saturday night rally as a “facesaving flopshow”.
He tweeted: “Unable to pull revolution crowds, failed at undermining appointments of new chiefs, frustrated, resorts to resignation drama.”