Pakistan’s former premier launches nationwide protests

ISLAMABAD (AA) – Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a nationwide protest campaign late Wednesday, vowing to continue to hold rallies and protests across the country until new elections are held.

In his first public address since being ousted through a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly, Khan spoke to a massive gathering in the northwestern city of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He said he will not allow the new “imported government” to run the country.

“New elections in the country should be immediately announced. Otherwise I will bring the public on the roads,” he warned.

He once again called for public rallies in various cities on Saturday and asked people to stage peaceful protests against what he called “a foreign conspiracy” against his government.

Criticizing the US, Khan said Washington instigated regime change in his country because he refused to allow the US to use Pakistan’s military bases for carrying out operations inside Afghanistan.

“The US wanted us to give them bases, and I said ‘absolutely not’ because we fought the US war and they killed our innocent people in drone attacks,” he asserted.

He also spoke for the first time about the judiciary and expressed disappointment over last’s week court verdict.

“I want to know from our judges what crime I had committed that you open the courts at midnight,” he said.

The opposition alliance ousted Khan late Saturday with 174 votes.

The vote, initially scheduled for April 3, was dismissed by the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, who said it was brought forward at the behest of foreign powers, as alleged by Khan.

Soon after the ruling, Khan advised President Arif Alvi to dissolve the National Assembly and called for new elections.

But the opposition cried foul and petitioned the Supreme Court against the ruling, saying it was unconstitutional.

After hearing arguments from both sides for five days, the top court set aside the deputy speaker’s ruling on Thursday, restored the assembly and called for holding the vote of no-confidence by Saturday.

Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was sworn-in on Monday.

Acting President Sadiq Sanjrani, who is also the chairman of the upper house of parliament, the Senate, administered the oath to the premier.