Massive protests were staged across major cities of Pakistan on the evening of Sunday, 10 April, against the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan through a vote of no-confidence.
Visuals of the protests showed streets full of agitators. "Never have such crowds come out so spontaneously and in such numbers in our history, rejecting the imported govt led by crooks," Imran Khan wrote on Twitter, sharing a video of the demonstrations.
"Thank you to all Pakistanis for their amazing outpouring of support & emotions to protest against US-backed regime change abetted by local Mir Jafars to bring into power a coterie of pliable crooks all out on bail. Shows Pakistanis at home & abroad have emphatically rejected this," he said in another tweet.
'Chowkidar Chor Hai': PTI Supporters Raise Slogans Against Pak Army
The Pakistan Tehreekh-e-Insaf (PTI) party led the protests on Sunday night in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Malakand, Multan, Khanewal, Khyber, Jhang, Quetta, Okara, Abbottabad , Bajaur, Lower Dir, Shangla, Kohistan, Mansehra, Swat, Gujrat, Faisalabad, Nowshera, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Mandi Bahauddin, reported Dawn.
Meanwhile, PTI supporters raised the slogan of 'chowkidar chor hain' against the Pakistan army in the Punjab province. The above slogan was heard when Awami Muslim League chief and Pakistan’s former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was addressing the crowd at Lal Haveli on Sunday.
However, he asked them not to raise such slogans and told them that they will "fight with peace".
“If you want to save your country then don’t take a decision in the dark of night but in daylight,” Ahmed said, adding that he would be taking out a 'jail bharo' movement from Karachi.
“On April 29, there will be Eid. Be ready we will take the jail bharo movement from Lal Haveli daily.” He also said that he “will tell all the Sindhis that they (the Opposition) are thieves.”
In capital Islamabad, the protest started from the city's Zero Point, leading to traffic snarl at the Srinagar Highway, reported Dawn news. In Lahore, a rally moved towards the city's Liberty Chowk, with people sloganeering against the US. Slogans were also raised against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif, who is expected to become the country's next prime minister.
PTI Supporters Protest Outside Nawaz Sharif's London Home
Besides Pakistan, protests were also staged in Dubai and London's Hyde Park.
PTI supporters on Sunday agitated outside former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's residence in London after Imran Khan was voted out of power.
A confrontation between PTI and PML-N supporters also took place, with slurs and slogans raised against each party's leadership outside Avenfield flats in London. The police reached the spot to control the situation between the two groups. Sharif is expected to return to Pakistan from London next month after Eid, a senior PML-N leader has said.
Khan has become the first prime minister in the history of Pakistan to be ousted through a no-confidence vote after 174 members in the 342-strong National Assembly voted in favour of removing him from the post in the wee hours of Sunday.
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