Oct. 29 (UPI) — Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan blasted Pakistan’s political “establishment” on Saturday during the second day of his “long march” to demand early elections.
Khan’s march, which left Lahore on Friday en route to the capital Islamabad, stopped in the Shahdara area of the city for a rally, during which the leader of Pakistan’s PTI party said citizens should not be treated like “goats and sheep,” the Press Trust of India reported.
The 70-year-old Khan mainly directed his anti-establishment rhetoric at the leadership of Pakistan’s army and its top intelligence agency while referencing a 75-year-old PTI senator who was allegedly arrested and tortured.
“I want to tell all of them today that we are humans and not sheep,” he told an adoring crowd of supporters in Shahdara, declaring, “don’t treat us like animals,” while decrying the appointment of “corrupt” rulers to positions of power.
Khan also called on Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to protect citizens’ fundamental rights and to investigate the alleged torture of PTI leaders such as Sen. Azam Swati, according to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn.
He later promised his supporters to always abide by the Constitution as the march reached Ferozewala.
Last week, the Pakistan government banned Khan from holding office in the country for at least five years due to corruption allegations, preventing him from even becoming a member of parliament over that time.
But he remains popular in the country with his party winning six of the eight in the National Assembly and two of three provincial seats.
Even as Khan demanded new elections, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday ruled them out, saying in a Twitter post that elections “will be held at the constitutional time, God willing.”
There is “no possibility of the negotiations that PTI is making noise about,” he added. “Negotiations and consensus among political forces on national issues is a part of the democratic mood.”
