Karachi: Tens of thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi as part of a campaign to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan, whom they call ‘clueless and incapable’.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of 11 opposition parties formed on September 20, has launched a three-phased anti-government movement under an “action plan” to remove the Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government.
“This incapable and clueless prime minister will have to go home,” Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said at the Bagh-e-Jinnah, which was packed with people including supporters and workers of the alliance’s members.
Bilawal, in his speech, lashed out at Khan for ‘betraying’ the people of Pakistan. Taking a jibe at PM Khan and Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman said, “Bajwa Sahib, I respect you so much. But please try to avoid these foolish (Khan) friends.”
“You’ve snatched jobs from people. You have snatched two-time a day food from the people,” Maryam Nawaz, the daughter and political heir of the former three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, told the rally.
Calling Imran Khan a ‘coward’, Maryam accused him of using the armed forces for his face-saving and declaring opponents as traitors only to save his skin and hide incompetence.
Addressing the rally via video link from London, Nawaz Sharif accused army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa of rigging the 2018 elections and orchestrating his ouster in 2017, saying the corruption charges brought against him were concocted.
The rally also marked the 13th anniversary of the twin blasts in Karsaz that targeted the homecoming procession of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. The blast left around 200 people dead and several injured.
The PDM is now scheduled to hold its third rally in Quetta on October 25, which will be followed by the fourth in Peshawar on November 22, fifth in Multan on November 30 and the last one in Lahore on December 13.
Opposition leaders have announced that they would use all political and democratic options, including no-confidence motions and mass resignations from Parliament to seek “the selected” prime minister’s resignation.
Keywords: Pakistan politics, Pakistan opposition, Imran Khan, PDM, Democracy in Pakistan, Pak army, PPP, PTI, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Nawaz Sharif
