Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan Calls for Immediate Parliamentary Elections
07:45 GMT 12.04.2022 (Updated: 10:57 GMT 11.03.2024)
© Photo : Imran Khan/facebook
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NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has demanded that immediate parliamentary elections be held in the country to appoint a new prime minister via public election.
On Sunday, the nation's parliament ousted Khan in a vote of no confidence. On Monday, parliament elected opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif from the Pakistan Muslim League-N as the new 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", Khan tweeted.
The politician went on to say that he would organise a public gathering, or jalsa, in the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
"On Wednesday I will be holding a jalsa in Peshawar after Isha – my 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", he said on Twitter.
Supporters of deposed Prime Minister Imran Khan's party participate in a rally to condemn the ouster of their leader's government, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, April 10, 2022. With the parliamentary no-confidence vote against Khan early Sunday, he called on supporters to take to the streets in protest and the political opposition preparing to install his replacement.
© AP Photo / Fareed Khan
On 3 April, the Pakistani Parliament initiated a no-confidence vote to remove Khan from office. After the motion was rejected as unconstitutional, Khan asked the president to dissolve parliament, but the decision to cancel the no-confidence vote was challenged in court by the opposition.
The Supreme Court ruled that the no-confidence vote must take place, with Khan saying that the opposition's motion was an attempt by foreign powers to depose him. After Imran Khan was ousted, his party Tehreek-e-Insaf withdrew from parliament. The remaining MPs elected Shehbaz Sharif Pakistan's new prime minister.
