— Former PM expected to address protestors at 6:00 pm
— Punjab government steps up protection of PTI chairman in wake of failed assassination attemptĀ
LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan, who is recovering from bullet wounds suffered during an assassination bid on November 3, is determined to head to Rawalpindi later today to address the planned big protest of his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party to demand snap elections, in a move that may further exacerbate the political crisis in Pakistan.
The protest march is the moment the former prime minister has been building up to for weeks now — and his first public outing since the attempt on his life during the first phase of what the opposition party calls a movement for real freedom, or haqeeqi azaadi.
Khan remains unable to walk so is expected to address the protesters from a wheelchair. According to security agencies, there remains a high risk of another assassination attempt, so he’ll be shielded within a cube of bulletproof glass.
His supporters are on the move from all corners of the country to reach the garrison city, the twin sister city of Islamabad, where a stage has been prepared on the Sixth Road Flyover in the middle of historic Murree Road.
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ā Musarrat Cheema (@MusarratCheema) November 26, 2022
Some avid supporters, who have already landed in the city, were housed in a temporary tent structure set up in the Iqbal Park near the venue of the rally.
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, chief of the Awami Muslim League (AML) party and an ally of Khan, said there will be a āsea of people and a referendumā in his home city.
The former interior minister said he will leave his famed Lal Haveli residence along with Sheikh Rashid Shafique, his nephew and a PTI MP, to participate in the event.
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ā Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) November 26, 2022
Khan departed from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore at around 2:00 pm in a bullet-proof vehicle which was sent to his place. He is expected to address the crowd at around 6:00 pm.
It is not clear if the rally would disperse after his address and convert into a sit-in. However, the administration of Rawalpindi has given only one-day permission for the rally.
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ā PTI (@PTIofficial) November 26, 2022
The administration also issued a notification that read the visiting cricket team of England would soon arrive in Rawalpindi, therefore, the venue should be completely vacated after the rally was over.
Situation at Mandi Bahauddin-Salam Interchange, massive rallies! #ŚŁŁ_ŚŁŁ_Ł¾ŁŚŪ_ŚŁŁ pic.twitter.com/Rg3dkv3rR8
ā PTI (@PTIofficial) November 26, 2022
Khan has assured the cricket board, in a meeting also attended by the British high commissioner in Islamabad, the rally will not disrupt the Rawalpindi Test between Pakistan and England.
Khan said on Friday that despite being injured he is determined to head to Rawalpindi for the “sake of the nation”.
In his message, the chairman of the party said he was fighting for the “real independence of the country and the struggle would continue until fresh elections were announced”.
āWe are fighting a war for the haqeeqi azaadi. The one point agenda is elections,ā he said, as he accused the government of destroying the economy and running away from elections fearing defeat.
Members of the government describe Khan as a “threat to democracy”. The foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, has accused Khan of “post-fact, alternate reality politics.”
Separately, the former prime minister told a TV station that if the snap elections were not announced and the government stuck to its stance of holding the general elections on time, next October, then the people would throw out the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance by force.
āThe haqeeqi azaadi movement will not end on November 26, but continue until justice is dispensed with,ā he said.
