Imran Khan to announce call for long march towards Islamabad today

• Imran Khan says Multan will be the last public gathering before march towards Islamabad begins.
• Says "sea of people would remain in Islamabad till date for fresh elections is not announced".
• Says PTI does not want an imported government but freedom via elections.

ISLAMABAD: PTI Chairman Imran Khan announced on Thursday that he would give the call for a long march to Islamabad today (Friday).

Addressing a group of young people at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad, the former prime minister said that he would announce his call for the much-awaited long march to Islamabad during his address in Multan on Friday.

“Multan will be the last public gathering before the march towards Islamabad begins. The march towards Islamabad will be for real freedom,” the PTI chairman said, adding that the "PTI’s goal of a fresh election is near."

“We do not want an imported government but freedom via elections,” Imran Khan said. "The sea of people would not leave Islamabad until and unless the Shehbaz Sharif-led government announces the date of the fresh elections".

On April 30, ousted prime minister Imran Khan said that the PTI would begin the anti-government march towards Islamabad in the last week of May.

"We will be giving this call to all Pakistanis, not just PTI supporters, as Pakistan has been insulted after the country's most corrupt people were imposed on us by a foreign power," Khan said in a video statement.

Former prime minister Khan was ousted from power on April 10 after the National Assembly voted him out through a no-confidence motion — making him the first premier to be voted out through the move.

Khan had repeatedly blamed the US for backing the no-confidence motion and has refused to accept newly elected PM Shehbaz Sharif, saying, "there can't be any bigger insult to this country." The Joe Biden-led administration in the US, however, has denied the allegations.

In his message, the ex-prime minister had said the preparations for the long march would begin on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr and urged the youth to come out on the streets with PTI's flags in their hands.

Since then, the PTI has been holding power shows across the country to ramp up the pressure on the government to hold fresh elections.