Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Jan has announced Wednesday that he has called for a mass march for his party’s supporters to the country’s capital, Islamabad, this Friday, October 28, to protest the disqualification he was subjected to last Friday for alleged corrupt practices.
In a press conference late on Tuesday and reported by the newspaper ‘Dawn’, Jan announced that he himself will lead a demonstration that will begin in Lahore — the second most populated city in the country — at 11.00 local time, and will end in Islamabad, some 370 kilometers away.
The former president has warned that his journey ends in the capital. «The nation will reach Islamabad from all over Pakistan. I predict that this will be the largest sea of people in the history of the country,» he said.
Jan has clarified that this march was not limited to politics, but is a «war for the future of Pakistan.» «This is something far beyond politics, it is a war for freedom from these thieves who have imposed themselves on us,» he said, before clarifying that this was a peaceful protest in which they would not «break the law».
«We have instructed everyone to remain peaceful (…) Whatever happens in Islamabad, it will be according to what the courts have allowed us,» he reiterated.
Jan also wanted to make it clear that the aim of the march is that the decision on who will lead the country will be taken by the public.
«We want the people to make the decision. Today I call on the whole nation to decide (…) whether we want to follow this path of becoming a free country or serve these thieves,» he said.
The decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), valid for five years, is another episode in the long political crisis that has at its epicenter the former Prime Minister, deposed in a motion of censure last April by what he considers an international conspiracy in the service of his great political enemy, the also former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The Commission opened the door to the criminal prosecution of Jan for not disclosing the details of the gifts he received during his time in power from foreign governments, despite the existence of a specific institution responsible for channeling these deliveries.
Jan reacted to the move by stating that the ECP had disqualified him in a totally illegal and unconstitutional manner.
