Imran Khan warns: ‘Declare polls in 6 days or I will return with entire nation'

A defiant former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, on Thursday (May 26) entered Islamabad with hundreds of his supporters who were removing the barricades placed by the government to stop them, even as Pakistan’s Supreme Court directed the authorities to allow the protest rally in the national capital and restrained them from arresting Khan.

Khan warned the incumbent government to declare elections within six days or he will come back to Islamabad with the ‘entire nation’.

Earlier, a three-member Supreme Court bench ordered that the ground between G-9 and H-9 sectors of the national capital should be provided for the rally by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Khan started the march from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a large caravan to demand the removal of the government and an immediate national election.

“No amount of state oppression and fascism by this imported government can stop or deter our march,” tweeted the 69-year-old former premier, who has been leading the march mounting on a truck.

Khan criticised the ‘tactics’ used by the ‘imported government, including raids and arrests, to stop the PTI’s march and thanked the Supreme Court for taking notice of the matter, the Dawn newspaper in Islamabad reported.

In Islamabad, police used tear gas fumes to disperse protesters who gathered in Islamabad in support of Khan.

Also read: Aggressive China looking to rope 10 Pacific nations into wide-ranging pact

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took to social media to oppose the protest launched by Khan to force early elections.

“It has been my conviction that Pakistan will progress only through sheer hard work. Politics of dharna is detrimental to progress & stability,” he said.

Khan was ousted from power last month through a no-trust vote. The authorities had blocked major roads leading to Islamabad using shipping containers and trucks and arrested several supporters of Khan in a bid to derail the march.

Earlier, the police fired teargas and chased Khan’s supporters who hurled stones near Lahore, leaving several injured. The clashes between the police and Khan’s supporters were also reported at several places.