Islamabad (NVI): Leader of one of the largest Islamist parties of Pakistan Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leading the much-hyped ‘Azadi March,’ has given 2 days ultimatum to cricketer-turned Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign, saying the PM has destroyed the economy.
Khan, who became Pakistan PM just 18 months ago, got the ultimatum as the leader of the hard line Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) addressed a massive protest rally here and said only people of Pakistan and not any “institution” had the right to govern the country, Pakistan daily Dawn reported.
“The Gorbachev of Pakistan must go. We give (Khan) two days to resign, otherwise, we will decide about the future,” Rehman said.
“The government will have to hand over power back to the people,” Maulana Rehman told supporters on the evening of November 1. “They have destroyed the economy. When such devastation occurs, the country’s geography is forever changed,” he said.
Maulana claims Khan came to power in a fraudulent election backed by the powerful military and has since gone on to ruin the economy.
The protest rally is touted as Prime Minister Khan’s biggest political test yet as the capital Islamabad was virtually sealed and schools shut in the wake of the March.
The march is also being seen as a test of the strength for opposition parties who have been fractured and cowed by the arrest and detention of their leaders in anti-corruption investigations. Pakistan People’s Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari; Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai; Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Asif and Awami National Party (ANP) general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain attended the meeting.
Addressing the demonstrators at the venue, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Imran Khan was a “puppet” and the nation is not ready to bow its head before a “selected” prime minister and “those who have selected him”.
