LAHORE, Pakistan — A crowd of thousands gathered Sunday for a rally
in the Pakistani city of Lahore called by cricket hero turned politician
Imran Khan to press President Asif Ali Zardari to step down. Dancing
to a drumbeat and waving the party's red and green flags, supporters of
Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) filled the sprawling
Minar-e-Pakistan ground which was ringed with tight security. "Who will save Pakistan? Imran Khan, Imran Khan," the crowd chanted. More
than 20,000 people had gathered as the meeting began at 4pm (1100 GMT)
with more on the way, according to witnesses, as the crowd waited for a
scheduled appearance by their hero. Khan's party slogan is "throw
this government out and save the country," in a campaign aimed at the
ruling coalition led by Zardari and the party of former prime minister
Nawaz Sharif. Khan, who guided Pakistan to a World Cup win in
1992, brims with confidence that he can solve Pakistan's myriad and
devastating problems. But his party has no seats in parliament and
it is criticised for lacking grassroots support and the infrastructure
needed to win an election. The rally, seen as a show of strength,
comes two days after Sharif's brother Shahbaz, attracted some 30,000
people at an anti-Zardari protest also in the key political battleground
of Lahore. Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) held a
demonstration on Friday to demand early elections in its political
heartland -- it controls the Punjab provincial government despite being
in opposition at national level. Party faithful denounced
corruption and widespread power cuts, calling on the 56-year-old
president, dubbed "Mr Ten Percent" over graft allegations, to step down
before the government's five-year mandate expires in 2013. The
venue for Khan's public meeting was bedecked with banners and hoardings
showing portraits of the former cricketer and the founder of the nation
Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was due to apeak later. Tehreek-e-Insaf
Secretary General Arif Ali said Khan "will make important announcements
regarding the country's politics and future course of action." "The
wind of change of has started in the country and anyone coming in its
way would be eliminated," Alvi said and added "Tehreek-e-Insaf wants the
rule of people constitution and law in the country." "It is going
to be historic. We have our supporters and voters coming from Lahore
and its suburban areas and the expected gathering would be over 100,000
people," Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, a member of the party's organising
committee said. Lahore, with a population of eight million, is
Pakistan's second-biggest city and the capital of the most populous
province Punjab, which commands the greatest number of seats in the
national assembly or lower house of parliament. That makes it bitterly contested territory where opposition leaders are targeting the unpopular Zardari. They
are looking to exploit disillusionment with the ruling Pakistan
People's Party (PPP) which swept to power in February 2008, two months
after Zardari's wife, ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was
assassinated. The party had expressed some concerns about
inadequate security arrangements and blocking of the convoys coming from
other cities. "We have been reassured by the provincial police
chief about the security of the gathering and smooth flow of traffic for
our convoys," Khokhar told AFP. Senior police official Ghulam
Mahmood Dogar told reporters that all steps had been taken to provide
"fool-proof" security at the public meeting. Around 2,000
Pakistanis led by Khan demonstrated in Islamabad on Friday to demand an
end to US drone strikes in the tribal areas, claiming they kill more
innocent civilians than Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders.
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