Pakistan needs 'immediate elections,' Imran Khan says after ouster

 

ISLAMABAD: Following his removal from the prime minister's office through a no-confidence vote, PTI Chairman Imran Khan Monday demanded immediate elections in the country.

The announcement comes hours after the National Assembly elected Shehbaz Sharif as Pakistan's 23rd prime minister, with 174 members of the lower house of parliament casting their vote in favour of the PML-N president.

But Khan, who even before his ouster claimed that his removal from office was part of a foreign conspiracy, has refused to accept Shehbaz as the prime minister.

"We are demanding immediate elections as that is the only way forward — to let the people decide, through fair & free elections, whom they want as their prime minister," the PTI chairman said.

He also announced that on Wednesday — two days from now — he will be holding a rally in Peshawar after Isha prayers — his first jalsa after being "removed through a foreign- instigated regime change".

"I want all our people to come, as Pakistan was created as an independent, sovereign state, not as a puppet state of foreign powers," the ex-prime minister said.

People came out in support of the ex-prime minister in the late hours of Sunday as they chanted slogans against the then-Opposition and vowed to support Khan till the end.

"There can't be any bigger insult to this country," Khan, who was ousted in the early hours of Sunday, told reporters today on the prospect of Shehbaz being elected.

Earlier today, the PTI lawmakers decided to resign en masse and submitted their resignations to the party's chief whip Amir Dogar. If they are accepted by the speaker, Pakistan faces a prospect of more than 100 by-elections within two months.