31 May, Islamabad(PTI) on the orders of deposed Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan ‘s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif alleged that demonstrators in Azadi March were carrying not just guns but also automatic weapons.
What exactly was the situation there?
Khan led hundreds of followers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party towards Islamabad in a protest last Wednesday, intending to organise a sit-in till new elections were announced, but the sit-in was abruptly called off at the last minute after arriving in the capital.
He had, however, threatened to return in six days if the administration did not announce a date for emergency elections in the country. Asif claimed in a Monday interview with Geo TV that the demonstrators at the Azadi march were carrying firearms on Khan’s orders.
Imran khan’s views
“Imran Khan is correct; his party members were not only armed, but they were also armed with automatic weapons. “Imran Khan had requested that protesters bring firearms to the long march, but the administration was aware of this,” he claimed. Asif was responding to a query on Khan’s recent interview with a private news channel, in which he revealed that members of his party was carrying firearms even during ‘Azadi March.’
Khan was dismissed from power in April after a no-confidence vote, but he rejected to accept defeat, accusing the US of being behind the overthrow of his government. Since then, the PTI chairman has now been protesting and pushing for new elections, claiming that the current coalition government was “imported” and not a legitimate representative of Pakistanis.
Imran Khan’s ‘azadi demonstration,’ scheduled for May 26, block the entrance to cities and places en route towards Islamabad and arrived early the next morning. The city quickly resembled a battleground, with police firing tear gas in response to reported acts of destruction by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers (PTI).
The Pakistan Army was dispatched to Islamabad’s Red Zone, which houses government offices including structures such as the Supreme Court, the PM’s residence, and other important structures.
That morning, Imran Khan arrived to D Chowk in Islamabad. Shortly after, khan called off this march & gave Shehbaz Sharif’s government pakistan six-day deadline to call new national elections. He stated he was resigning as this government was attempting to divide the people and the police by holding the march.
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