Imran Khan’s PTI has announced a protest for April 9, the date the party was removed from power four years ago following a no-confidence motion. At a press conference at the KP House on Monday, party leaders including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Junaid Akbar Khan announced that the party will hold a nationwide protest on April 9. They also demanded permission to organize a rally at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi that day, stating that holding a public meeting is their constitutional right. Afridi said the party would hold a "full protest" to highlight what he called the suppression of democracy in the country.
"We must show the world that democracy is being strangled," He said, adding that the protest would remain peaceful. He urged the authorities to grant permission for the rally, stating that the party would take care of all the arrangements itself, including setting up the stage, sound system and mobilizing workers.
"The government should only issue the NOC; we will take care of the rest," he stated. Junaid Akbar Khan said preparations had already begun and party leaders across the country, including Peshawar, had been directed to mobilize workers to participate. He warned that if permission was denied, protests would take place wherever party workers were present. Sohail also sharply criticized the federal government’s policies, warning against new military operations and highlighting what he described as a sharp economic decline over the past four years. Afridi said military operations had not solved problems in the past and would not do so in the future. He noted that 22 major operations and thousands of intelligence-based operations had been carried out, but that lasting peace remained elusive.
"We are political people, not armed groups," said.
