Huge opposition rally in Lahore urges resignation of PM Khan

Thousands of Pakistani opposition protesters have defied COVID-19 restrictions in the central city of Lahore to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan over matters that to them far outweigh the pandemic.

The Sunday demonstration was organized by an alliance of 11 opposition parties – the Pakistan Democratic Movement that includes the parties of former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto – further protesting rising inflation, poor economy, and what they also cited as declining civil liberties and media censorship.

The government, however, has dismissed the protest rally as “more [of] a ploy” to distract from the corruption charges against Sharif, who was ousted in 2017 and later jailed following his conviction by Pakistan’s Supreme Court. 

Sharif appeared to lead the protest from London, where he has been living since his release on medical bail last year, and encouraged Pakistani youth to participate to “win our freedom again” in a video message broadcast during the Lahore rally.

“One freedom was what we won in 1947 [the creation of Pakistan]. Now is the time to win our freedom again,” he said, “I urge young people to come out of their homes [for the cause of democracy]”.

Opposition lawmakers have also threatened to resign en masse from the parliament and wage yet another protest march to Islamabad next month in a bid to paralyze the Pakistani capital.

While Khan has offered to negotiate with the opposition, he has declined to drop corruption charges against the country’s former top officials, including Sharif.

“Having never worked a day in their lives, their shahi [royal] lifestyles are directly dependent on saving their families’ ill-gotten, illegally acquired wealth through robbing and impoverishing the nation,” the Pakistani prime minister said in a Twitter post last month.

Ahead of the protest, Sharif’s daughter, Maryam, who is leading her father’s Pakistan Muslim League Party, described the rally as “decisive” in a television advertisement, saying, “You have to decide either to seize your rights or continue living under the worst government. You will have to decide against inflation, growing prices of food items and economic breakdown.”

According to an Al Jazeera report, however, as the opposition was eager to portray the Lahore rally as a “referendum,” the government appeared “determined to stay in power” and not “buckle under pressure.”

At previous rallies, Sharif has also accused the Pakistani army and intelligence chiefs of rigging the 2018 national elections to block his party from seeking a new term.

Khan, however, has made the counter-accusation that the wealthy businessman and three-time prime minister is “playing the game” of regional foe India by criticizing the Pakistani military.

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