Pakistan opposition holds mass rally calling for PM Khan to go

The protests come as Pakistan's economy struggles with double digit inflation and negative growth. PHOTO: REUTERS

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, who they accuse of being installed by the military in a rigged election two years ago.

The mass demonstration on Sunday in Karachi was the second in three days launched by the Pakistan Democratic Movement, formed last month by nine major opposition parties to begin a nationwide agitation against the government.

Under Mr Khan, Pakistan has experienced mounting censorship of the media and a crackdown on dissent, critics and opposition.

But the campaign against him sought to tap into discontent over his handling of the economy, which was tanking even before the global coronavirus pandemic struck.

"You've snatched jobs from people. You have snatched... food from the people," Ms Maryam Nawaz, the daughter and political heir of the former three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, said at the rally, referring to Mr Khan.

In the early hours of yesterday, police arrested her husband Muhammad Safdar following complaints from Mr Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party that he had raised political slogans at the mausoleum of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, an action deemed illegal.

"Police broke my room door at the hotel I was staying at in Karachi and arrested Capt Safdar," Ms Nawaz tweeted yesterday morning. A spokesman for the provincial government said police had not acted on its orders.

During Sunday's rally, Ms Nawaz had shared the platform with Mr Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, whose late mother Benazir Bhutto served twice as prime minister.

"Our farmers have hunger in their homes... our youth is disappointed," said Mr Zardari, whose Pakistan People's Party governs Karachi.

The message struck a chord with their supporters, in a country now suffering double-digit inflation and negative economic growth.

"Inflation has broken the back of poor citizens forcing many to beg to feed their children," said Mr Faqeer Baloch, 63, at the Karachi rally.

"It is high time that this government should go now," he said as the crowd chanted, "Go Imran go!"

The next general election is scheduled for 2023.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 20, 2020, with the headline Pakistan opposition holds mass rally calling for PM Khan to go. Subscribe