Pakistani ex-PM Imran Khan cancels planned sit-in, demands elections in 6 days
- Authorities say Khan ended his rally after seeing a poor popular response from the masses, which they say were only between 10,000 and 15,000
- Khan was ousted as prime minister last month by a no-confidence vote in Parliament, since then has held rallies saying his removal was the result of a US plot
Pakistan’s defiant former Prime Minister Imran Khan cancelled a planned, open-ended sit-in in Islamabad on Thursday, temporarily assuaging fears of protracted civil conflict after he led thousands on a march toward Parliament demanding the government’s resignation.
Khan’s followers began converging on the capital on Wednesday, with some 10,000 reaching the city centre around midnight. Khan himself entered as part of a large convoy of cars, buses and trucks, with demonstrators waving flags and rallying overnight. Some clashed with police outside Parliament.
Khan gave Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif – who replaced him in April – less than a week to call for new elections, warning that if his government did not comply, he’d return to the capital with three million supporters.
“I am giving you six days,” Khan said from a sound truck parked on the central Jinnah Avenue early on Thursday, demanding the dissolution of Parliament as well. “If you don’t do it after six days, I will return,” he said.
Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician, was prime minister for over three and half years until he was ousted last month by a no-confidence vote in Parliament. Since then, he has held rallies across the country, saying his removal from office was the result of a US-organised plot. Washington has denied the allegation, and Sharif has called Khan’s claim “a pack of lies.”
On Wednesday, clashes erupted in the eastern city of Lahore, when riot police fired tear gas and pushed back hundreds of pro-Khan demonstrators who hurled stones as they tried to pass a roadblocked bridge near the city to board buses bound for Islamabad.
Dozens of Khan’s followers clashed with police in Islamabad, where the demonstrators set fire to bushes lining a main boulevard, sending smoke and flames rising into the sky. Altercations were also reported elsewhere, including in Karachi, where demonstrators burned a police vehicle.