At a press conference on Tuesday in Lahore, Khan stated, “I have decided to commence the long march from Friday at 11am [06:00 GMT] from Liberty Square in Lahore to Islamabad.” There are 380 kilometres between the two cities (236 miles).
He added that his fans and party members should refrain from violence and said, “I am marching to force the administration to call elections immediately.” The country’s history’s largest lengthy march will be this one.
The administration has already said that protesters will not be allowed inside Islamabad, and they plan to send out roughly 30,000 law enforcement officers to surround the city for security.
Imran Khan, a former prime minister of Pakistan, declares a long march
In order to block off all entrances to Islamabad before the demonstrators arrive, authorities have sent hundreds of containers there.
Khan has protested across the nation since being ousted from office in a no-confidence vote in the legislature in April, calling for early elections; however, the administration has stated that they will take place as scheduled in October or November of next year.
The verdict from last week has made Pakistan’s political and economic unrest this year worse. The 70-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician was charged with abusing his position as premier from 2018 to 2022 to purchase and resell goods that were brought back from trips abroad and were priced at more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000).
Khan will lose his position in the legislature, according to the Pakistani Election Commission, but a longer ban from holding public office, which may last up to five years according to Pakistani law, was not mandated.
Economic uncertainty has been exacerbated by political unpredictability, with foreign rating agencies questioning whether the current administration can continue its challenging economic policies in the face of political pressure and impending elections.
In his statements, Khan also condemned the shooting of well-known Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif by Kenyan police, claiming Sharif was forced to leave the nation because his life was in danger.
