{"id":47903,"date":"2022-03-27T15:22:20","date_gmt":"2022-03-27T15:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47903"},"modified":"2022-03-27T15:22:20","modified_gmt":"2022-03-27T15:22:20","slug":"thousands-rally-in-pakistani-capital-as-pressure-grows-on-pm-khan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47903","title":{"rendered":"Thousands rally in Pakistani capital as pressure grows on PM Khan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>Islamabad, Pakistan \u2013<\/strong> Tens of thousands of activists from Pakistan\u2019s ruling party and opposition groups have descended on the capital, Islamabad, ahead of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/3\/24\/pakistan-pm-khan-says-he-wont-resign-ahead-of-no-confidence-vote\">parliamentary vote<\/a> seeking to topple the\u00a0government of Prime Minister Imran Khan.<\/p>\n<p>Khan, under mounting political pressure,\u00a0has urged supporters from across the country to gather on Sunday for a show of strength ahead of the crucial vote expected next week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a battle for the future of our nation,\u201d the cricketer-turned-politician said in an audio message released on Twitter on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Activists from Khan\u2019s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party started arriving in the early morning at the venue, a parade ground near the Faizabad Interchange, where people<b>\u00a0<\/b>danced to party anthems and shouted slogans such as \u201clong live Imran Khan\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>PTI leaders said they expect more than a million people to attend the rally, which Khan will address, even though some say the venue cannot accommodate more than 30,000 people.<\/p>\n<p><span><iframe allowfullscreen=\"true\" height=\"434\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/279BbTIVNMc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" width=\"770\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, opposition supporters are also gathering in Islamabad ahead of planned anti-Khan protests on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif\u2019s party began a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/3\/26\/pakistan-opposition-starts-anti-govt-march-towards-islamabad\">\u201clong march\u201d<\/a> on Saturday to the capital from the eastern city of Lahore, the political bastion of Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.<\/p>\n<p>Thousands of activists from the conservative Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) party are also marching on Islamabad to join anti-government protests.<\/p>\n<p>An alliance of opposition parties is accusing Khan\u2019s government of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/3\/25\/why-is-pakistans-opposition-seeking-pm-imran-khans-removal\">corruption<\/a> and blaming him for mismanaging the country amid a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2021\/11\/22\/imf-revives-6bn-bailout-for-pakistans-economy\">growing economic crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Special security arrangements have been made for the rallies and around 13,000 personnel including paramilitary forces have been deployed in different parts of the city to prevent clashes.<\/p>\n<p>The opposition is likely to table the motion of no confidence on Monday. After at least three days of debate, the vote can take place and must be held within seven days.<\/p>\n<figure aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1683693\" id=\"attachment_1683693\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Activists from the Opposition party Pakistan Muslim leauge Nawaz (PML-N) take part of anti-government march toward Islamabad from Lahore\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/000_326Y2TF.jpg?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C525\"><\/img><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1683693\">Activists from the opposition PML-N take part in an anti-government march toward Islamabad from Lahore [Arif Ali\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>\u2018More hype than reality\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The PTI has faced criticism for not allowing media cameras at Sunday\u2019s rally, citing security reasons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there is more hype than reality [about the number of people] and PTI does not want that to be exposed,\u201d local journalist Kamran Yousaf, whose media team was barred from entry, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>Outside the parade ground, a number of stalls were set up overnight. Among them was 40-year-old vendor Muhammad Imran, who came from the port city of Karachi to sell T-shirts printed with \u201cAbsolutely Not\u201d \u2013\u00a0 Khan\u2019s response on giving Pakistani bases to the United States for Afghanistan operations after the Taliban\u2019s takeover in Kabul.<\/p>\n<p>Roads in the city were full of colourful banners of different parties and portraits of Khan, while the city had a festive feel as a number of young activists descended on Islamabad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKhan will defeat the looters [opposition groups] and we have come to support him irrespective of his shortcomings,\u201d Usman Ali, a student, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>But a few yards away, 18-year-old Muhammad Awais, busy selling white chana chaat, a local delicacy, was angry with Khan\u2019s government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe, the poor, have been hit hard by the ever-increasing food prices and dwindling income,\u201d Awais said.<\/p>\n<p><span><iframe allowfullscreen=\"true\" height=\"434\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xaXHh_w7k6s?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" width=\"770\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Their days are numbered\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As the rally began on Sunday, the PTI leaders slammed the opposition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Khan] has the courage and ability to withstand foreign pressures and have an independent foreign policy,\u201d Qasim Suri, deputy speaker of Pakistan\u2019s National Assembly, said in a speech.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPM Khan is going to give you a surprise you cannot imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The embattled prime minister had said he still holds the trump card and would \u201csurprise\u201d the opposition in today\u2019s speech, leaving many to speculate about what the announcement could be.<\/p>\n<p>The PTI, which has a razor-thin majority in the National Assembly, has been losing allies, with a number of defections ahead of the confidence vote.<\/p>\n<p>Baloch leader Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti announced his resignation as a minister and said he will join the opposition.<\/p>\n<p>Khan came to power in 2018 in national elections marred by allegations that he was supported by Pakistan\u2019s powerful military.<\/p>\n<p>But some say he now appears to have lost the military\u2019s support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe came to power after he was patronised [by the military]. We are not afraid of his threats and rallies,\u201d Rana Sanaullah, a close aide of Sharif, told reporters in the capital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir [government] days are numbered\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Islamabad, Pakistan \u2013 Tens of thousands of activists from Pakistan\u2019s ruling party and opposition groups have descended on the capital, Islamabad, ahead of a parliamentary vote seeking to topple the\u00a0government of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Khan, under mounting political pressure,\u00a0has urged supporters from across the country to gather on Sunday for a show of strength&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}