Foreign

PAKISTAN’S former prime minister Imran Khan has announced a protest march to call for early elections would start on Friday.

A move seen as a final push by the ousted leader to topple the government.

“We are aiming at soft revolution,” Khan told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore late on Tuesday.

Khan said the march would be peaceful and the final round of his struggle to oust what he called the imported government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Starting from Lahore, the march would cover some 380 kilometres on the country’s busiest transport artery, the GT Road.

Khan said he was open to discussions and that he was ready to face jail for the cause.

Authorities in the capital have made plans to thwart the march, including the deployment of additional riot police and paramilitary forces and blocking roads with more than 500 shipping containers.

In 2014, when Sharif’s party came to power, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had a 126-day sit-in in front of the parliament demanding re-election.

Many believed the army was behind the protest.

Khan came to power in 2018 promising to eradicate corruption and revive the economy but failed to deliver on most of his pledges.

He has drawn huge crowds at rallies demanding snap elections since his removal from office through a no-confidence vote in April.

He openly censured the country’s powerful military for not taking his side when he faced a no-confidence vote and blamed the United States for being behind the regime change. (dpa/NAN)

KN

Tags: Imran Khan Shehbaz Sharif