Published 11:31 IST, December 6th 2020
'Kursi wala to sound wala...': Pakistan PM Imran warns he'll book Lahore Rally Organisers
A worried Imran Khan has ruled out the possibility of his PTI government granting permission to Opposition for holding anti-government rallies in Pakistan.
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A worried Imran Khan has ruled out the possibility of his PTI government granting permission to Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for holding anti-government rallies in Pakistan. The Prime Minister has also warned that police cases will be lodged against organisers.
'We will file FIRs against everyone'
In an interview to a private news channel, Imran Khan said the government has decided against allowing the Opposition to hold the public gathering, Geo News reported. "We will file FIRs against everyone -- from the kursi wala to the sound system handlers but won't stop them [Opposition leaders] from going there," he said. Imran Khan was referring to the December 13 public gathering in Lahore announced by the 11-party opposition alliance.
The 'jalsa' in question is being hosted by PML-N. The Pakistan Prime Minister made similar threats ahead of Peshawar and Multan rallies. However, the Opposition did not back down and had organised these events.
Deputy Commissioner Lahore has also refused to grant permission to hold the rally at Minar-e-Pakistan due to the ongoing health crisis in the country. Earlier in the day, while addressing a public meeting at the Bacha Khan Chowk, leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) consisting of an 11-party alliance, said that the wrong policies of the Imran Khan-led government had brought the country to the brink of economic disaster.
Dawn quoted PDM as saying, the struggle they had launched would continue until the ouster of the rulers who had been "imposed on the country after stealing the people's mandate in the 2018 elections." The PDM has held five similar rallies in Peshawar, Gujranwala, Karachi, Quetta and Multan since October 16.
Pakistan seeks debt suspension for some nations
Khan who has been focusing on his Opposition rather than on the country's financial crisis, had to request the international community for debt suspension till the end of the Coronavirus pandemic for low-income and most affected countries as well as cancellation of debt of least developed nations, according to a media report on Friday.
Cash-strapped Pakistan's economic woes have further worsened due to the Coronavirus pandemic and Khan's government is arranging finances from world bodies, including the International Monetary Fund, to tide over the crisis. Presenting a 10-point agenda for urgent action before the UN General Assembly special session on COVID-19 on Thursday, Khan underlined the measures the international community needs to take to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dawn newspaper reported.
09:45 IST, December 6th 2020