Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has said that he will announce the date for the biggest protest in the country’s history to challenge what he calls the "imported government" of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Since his ouster in April, he has been pressuring the government to announce new dates for elections.

He also asked the government to sever ties with India for the controversial remarks by the BJP’s now suspended leaders.
“We have to go all-in for our campaign for true freedom in the next phase. I will give a date within the next few days…It will be the biggest protest in the country's history. This is our right," Khan said while addressing his supporters.

In May, he had organized a similar protest but called it off a day later.

Khan reiterated his claim of the foreign conspiracy, blaming the United States for the fall of his government. Referring to the Sharif government as the “imported government”, he said it will not make any decisions without the permission of the US.

The country’s economy is in trouble as the foreign exchange reserves are fast declining, with no success yet with the IMF package. In the last few days, the government announced some hard measures—but unpopular measures—to meet the conditions for the IMF bailout.

Khan’s demands—the dissolution of the national assembly and the announcement of the next general elections—will further create political instability and could also affect the government’s ability to take economic reform measures and critical decisions.

Addressing his party workers, the former prime minister also targeted the government for raising fuel prices. The government, he claimed, had not approached Russia to ink an agreement for supplying cheap oil. Talking about his visit to Russia as the premier, he said that the PTI government had negotiated a deal for cheap oil.

“The government should sever ties with India…Indian products should be boycotted,” Khan declared, asking the government to follow the Arab countries and take a strong position against the Narendra Modi government.

(SAM)