Millions of Pakistanis protested against the removal of Imran Khan as the prime minister of the country across Pakistan on Sunday night after the daily dawn-to-dusk fast concluded.
Tens of thousands of people were waving large flags of former PM Imran Khan’s party across Pakistan and shouted slogans like ‘Imran Khan Juka Nahi, Bika nahi’ (Imran Khan didn’t bow down, wasn’t purchased) ‘we want Imran Khan back.’
In Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, the lights from thousands of supporters lit up the night sky as Khan made his way through the crowd atop a brightly coloured truck.
“Never have such crowds come out so spontaneously and in such numbers in our history,” Khan posted on his Twitter account on Sunday night.
Protest rallies were reported in cities including Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Malakand, Multan Khanewal, Khyber, Jhang and Quetta, with demonstrators shouting slogans against the Opposition.
In the southern Arabian Sea port city of Karachi, more than 20,000 people shouted slogans promising Khan’s return to power.
The former Prime Minister was brought down early on Sunday morning after 174 legislators in the 342-seat National Assembly – some belonging to his party and coalition – voted in a no-confidence motion moved by the opposition to depose him, two more than the required simple majority.
Mr. Imran has claimed the US worked behind the scenes to bring him down, purportedly because of Washington’s displeasure over his independent foreign policy choices, which often favour China and Russia.
He has occasionally defied the US and stridently criticised its post-9/11 war on terror.
He also said the US was deeply disturbed by his visit to Russia and his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, the day the devastating war in Ukraine started.
The US State Department has denied his allegations.