Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan on Monday announced that he would lead the July 2 protest at Islamabad’s Parade Ground against the “imported government imposed on Pakistan by US regime change conspiracy.”
The statement comes precisely a month after Imran Khan abruptly ended his party’s Azadi March in the capital with a six-day ‘ultimatum’ to the PML-N government for the announcement of early elections.
Taking to Twitter, the PTI chief said he would protest against “the NRO2 they [coalition government] engineered to save their Rs1100b corruption plus spiralling prices crushing nation. I will lead the Islamabad protest at Parade Ground.”
On 2 July we will hold peaceful protests across Pakistan against Imported govt imposed on Pak by US regime change conspiracy & the NRO2 they engineered to save their Rs 1100 bn corruption plus spiralling prices crushing nation. I will lead the Islamabad protest at Parade Ground.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) June 27, 2022
Khan chaired a meeting of the party’s political committee to examine the country’s overall political situation amid rising inflation and discussed a future course of action at his residence in Bani Gala.
Read more: PML-N govt wanted to thwart Azadi March: Imran Khan
PTI’s Central Secretary General Asad Umar, Pervez Khattak, Asad Qaiser, and Aamir Mehmood Kiyani, along with other central and regional leadership of the party, attended the meeting, according to Dawn.
The report said “they condemned lawlessness witnessed during the first phase of local government elections in Sindh and expressed deep concern over what they called the failure of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold fair, transparent and credible elections. However, they expressed ‘happiness’ and ‘satisfaction’ over the decisive victory of PTI in PK-7 Swat, wherein PTI inflicted punching defeat on ANP candidate backed by 13 political parties.”
The PTI statement said, “The leaders expressed their reservations over rising complaints of pre-poll rigging by the coalition government in 20 Punjab constituencies where by-elections will be held on July 17.”
The leaders said the enthusiasm among the people regarding the by-elections was ‘a ray of hope’, adding that the government’s days were numbered.
Read more: Former ISI head Zaheer-ul-Islam supports PTI
Moreover, instructions were issued to the Rawalpindi and Islamabad divisions of the party for speeding up their preparations and public mobilisation campaign to make the event historic.
Khan said people from all walks of life, especially the youth and women, were politically more mature than ever and that a strong movement against the government was inevitable.
‘Local Mir Jafars’ were defying the Constitution, law, and democratic values more ruthlessly than dictators did, he alleged.