Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party on Tuesday announced a countrywide protest on Saturday against the alleged rigging in the February 8 elections that has prevented the party from returning to power.
Addressing a press conference after meeting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in Rawalpindi’s high-security Adiala jail where he is currently incarcerated, the party’s secretary seneral and its candidate for the prime minister’s slot, Omar Ayub reiterated “large scale” rigging in the polls.
PTI would stage countrywide protests against the “rigging” in polls alongside other political parties, he was quoted as saying by Geo News.
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“Our seats were stolen with just a stroke of pen. The people gave the mandate to the former PTI chairman. Nation’s mandate and our seats have been attacked,” Ayub said.
He said the PTI would protest in courts and assemblies across the country.
“Ours is the fight of truth,” Ayub said, adding that the party has nominated Amir Dogar and Junaid Khan for the post of National Assembly speaker and deputy speaker, respectively.
Separately, speaking to media outside the Adiala jail, PTI’s central leader Sher Afzal Marwat said Imran Khan wants the nation to take to the streets on March 2 against alleged rigging in the elections, the Dawn newspaper reported.