Pakistan opposition's rise in protests signifies fall of Imran Khan

From 'go Nawaz' to 'go Niazi', Pakistan has come a long way. For months the country has been rocked by anti-government protests. On Sunday, December 13, these protests came to a temporary halt.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement held its final rally for this year in the city of Lahore. This does not mean the anti-government movement has subsided. The opposition is planning to organise what it calls another 'tsunami of protests' in Islamabad by February 2021 — bigger than the power-show they put up in Lahore yesterday.

Thousands of Pakistani citizens converged at Minar-e-Pakistan and chanted slogans against Imran Khan Niazi and demanded his resignation. There were fiery speeches by opposition leaders such as Bilawal Bhutto, the Chairman of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the President Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Maryam Nawaz, the Vice-President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

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Their grudges against the Pakistani government varied but their message was the same: 'Imran Khan will have to go.

"Imran khan, you will have to leave the government because you destroyed industry, you destroyed the business of the people, you destroyed the institutions, you raised the price for your class. You have to go now because you destroyed the national economy," said Nawaz.

Voicing the same opinion, Maulana Fazlur Rahman said, "We will eliminate the role of the establishment and the intelligence agency from politics and introduce the concept of independent accountability."

Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, was also present virtually in the rally. Streaming in from London, he lashed out at the Pak army for its increasing involvement in the country's political matters and accused them of installing a puppet in the highest office of the country.

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As Lahore erupted in protest, 378 kilometres away in Pakistan's capital, Imran khan was least bothered. He spent the time releasing pictures of his engagements in Islamabad; pictures of the quality time he spent feeding his dogs at the lavish mansion he owns in Bani Gala.

Following these images were some self-righteous tweets by the PM, "Pathetic! PDM spent so much money, time, effort and displayed utter callousness by endangering people's lives during COVID-19 spike, Showing the scant regard they have for citizens' safety and well being. All this just to blackmail me into giving them an NRO to save their looted wealth.'

However, he forgot his own callousness has pushed Pakistan into food insecurity as the food prices are spiralling out of control. Inflation stands at 16.6 per cent and many Pakistani citizens are struggling for a daily meal as their safety and well-being are under threat.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province governed by Imran Khan's party PTI, at least six patients lost their life due to oxygen shortage in a government hospital in Peshawar. More than 200 patients were on a curtailed oxygen supply for hours at the same hospital.

Imran Khan also talks about blackmail when just four weeks back his government bowed down to fundamentalists and extremists and allowed them to camp right outside Pakistan's capital. Members of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, a radical political party, blackmailed the Pakistani government by blocking a major highway to Islamabad and held the entire country hostage to protest against France.

Talking about 'looted wealth', the bus rapid transit project and the billion tree tsunami project, which were the brainchild of Imran Khan have been declared scams. There are financial irregularities worth billions of Pakistani rupees in both projects.

Pakistan's opposition may have orchestrated these protests, but the anger among the Pakistani citizens is genuine, and it is set to grow in the coming weeks.