ISLAMABAD: Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's party on Thursday gave a call for nationwide "peaceful protests" on Saturday against its "marginalisation" in the country's politics, saying it will not allow the people's mandate for it to be "stolen" by rivals parties.
Two of Pakistan's major political parties - the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) - on Tuesday said they will form a coalition government after the February 8 inconclusive elections.
Their move means that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of Imran Khan will not be in power, despite independent candidates backed by it gaining the maximum number of seats in the National Assembly.
In a change of tactics, the PTI said it will countrywide protests over the weekend against the alleged rigging in elections while joining the national and provincial assemblies.
The party previously had opted to either boycott or walk out of the assemblies while launching protests but the new strategy showed that it wanted to build pressure from within Parliament and also outside on the streets to press for its demand to rectify the results, which it says were rigged.
PTI senior leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan told journalists after meeting former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Adiala Jail said that his party chief has given instructions to hold peaceful protests across the country.
"The PTI workers will hold peaceful protests across the country on Saturday against manipulation and rigging in the elections," he said.
The PTI leader refuted reports of forming a government with the PPP.
"We will not negotiate with the PPP. The PTI's founder Imran Khan's clear stance is that he will not share power with the PML-N and PPP," Gohar maintained.
"This election will determine how free the people of Pakistan are," Gohar said, adding that his party will not allow for the mandate to be stolen.
Gohar Ali Khan claimed that his party had managed to win 180 seats in the National Assembly in the general elections on February 8, but an attempt was made to 'rob' its mandate through alleged rigging.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday night nominated 72-year-old Shehbaz as the prime ministerial candidate.
To form a government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.
Independent candidates, mostly backed by Khan's PTI, won 101 seats.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N has won 75 seats and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto's PPP has secured 54 seats.
The PTI-backed candidates ran as independents due to the party losing the election symbol of bat' following controversy surrounding its intra-party elections.
Gohar Ali Khan also invited other political parties to participate in the protests against the alleged rigging.
"All we ask is that you participate and it is a question of your freedom," he said.
He also warned against the arrest of its workers who would be joining peaceful protests which is their legal and constitutional right.
Earlier, PTI leader Hammad Azhar had said in a message that his party would soon hold a protest procession across Punjab province against the alleged rigging.
"All the candidates and workers of Punjab should start preparing for a peaceful protest on an emergency basis," he said in a message on X.
He had also announced that people should prepare to come out on Imran Khan's call against the stolen mandate'.
Separately, party leader Asad Qaisar said after meeting Imran Khan that the party would join Parliament and filed Umar Ayub Khan as a candidate for prime minister.
PTI has learnt a lesson from its past mistake of resigning from Parliament and from Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies in 2022 which added to its hardships.
The PTI decided to resign enmasse in 2022 after Imran Khan's government lost a no-confidence motion against him in Parliament and had to resign.
The new plan is to sit in the assemblies and also launch protests.
Its previous strategy failed when it resigned to force the government to hold snap polls, and it is too early to say if the new policy would succeed.
