(Rawalpindi) Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan assured tens of thousands of his supporters on Saturday that he would continue to fight, until his “last drop of blood”, in his first public speech since he was the victim of an assassination attempt earlier this month.
He had been shot in the legs during a previous rally on November 3 after a political crisis sparked by his ouster from power following a vote of no confidence in parliament against him in April.
Saturday’s rally in Rawalpindi, home to the headquarters of Pakistan’s mighty army and adjacent to the capital Islamabad, was the culmination of a ‘long march’ organized by Mr Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e -Insaf (ITP).
And this with the aim of putting pressure on the government to call early legislative elections.
PHOTO AAMIR QURESHI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Many supporters of the former prime minister were present at the rally.
“I saw death up close,” said Imran Khan, 70, protected by bulletproof glass, who limped past the crowd, leaning on a walker, surrounded by a myriad of bodyguards.
“I am more worried about Pakistan’s freedom than my life,” he continued. “I will fight for this country until my last drop of blood”.
An “unbearable” situation
Imran Khan is a cult among his supporters, but on Saturday he delivered his speech hundreds of meters from the bulk of the 25,000-30,000 people in attendance, separated from him by rolls of wire barbed wire and a cordon of police.
On November 3, a gunman opened fire at point-blank range on the former prime minister as the truck in which he drove down a crowded street.
Buildings overlooking the site of Saturday’s rally were searched overnight, a police official told AFP, while snipers were positioned on nearby heights.
“We hope that Khan will introduce reforms and that the situation will improve,” Saghir Ahmed, who closed his shop to attend the event, told AFP.
This 32-year-old tailor laments a disastrous economic situation with galloping inflation and a plummeting currency, the rupee, which has made life “unbearable”.
In the morning, supporters of the PTI had flocked from all over the country, wearing flags of this party in green and red colors.
The authorities have put in place a vast security device around Islamabad to prevent supporters of the former international cricket star, reconverted in politics, from walking on government buildings.
Scenes of chaos in May
Thousands of members of the security services had been deployed and the roads had been blocked.
The demonstrations organized in May by Imran Khan had given rise to scenes of chaos: the capital had been blocked and clashes had broken out across the country between police and demonstrators.
The police had warned that any attempt by supporters of the former head of government to enter Islamabad would be firmly repressed this time.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, who Mr Khan said was involved in “the plot” to assassinate him along with current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a senior military official, had issued a “red alert on the eve of the rally.
The government says the attempt to kill Imran Khan was the work of one man, currently in custody. Police released a “confession” video of the junkyard owner in which he said he acted because he believed Imran Khan was against Islam.
Saturday’s rally came two days after the government nominated General Syed Asim Munir to take over as army commander, ending months of speculation about it.
Syed Asim Munir served as the head of the all-powerful military intelligence (ISI) under Mr Khan, but his tenure ended after just eight months.
The military wields considerable influence in this nuclear-armed Muslim nation of 220 million. They have staged at least three coups since independence in 1947, remaining in power for more than three decades.