Imran Khan’s PTI has announced a protest for April 9, the date the party was ousted from power four years ago after a vote of no confidence. Addressing a press conference at 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 stage a demonstration at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi on the day, claiming that their constitutional right is a constitutional assembly. Afridi said the party would hold one "full protest" to highlight what he called the suppression of democracy in the country.
"We must show the world that democracy is being suffocated," he said, adding that the protest would remain peaceful. He urged the authorities to grant permission for the demonstration, saying the party itself would handle all arrangements, including stage setup, sound system and mobilization of workers.
"Government should only issue NOC; we’ll handle the rest" he stated. Junaid Akbar Khan said preparations had already begun and party leaders across the country, including in Peshawar, had been asked to mobilize workers for participation. He warned that if permission was denied, protests would be held wherever party workers are present. Sohail also strongly criticized the federal government’s policies, warning against any new military operation and highlighting what he described as a sharp economic decline over the past four years. Afridi said that military operations had neither solved problems in the past nor would do so in the future. He noted that 22 major and thousands of intelligence-based operations had been carried out, but lasting peace remained elusive.
"We are political people, not armed groups," he said.
