(8 Mar 2022) Supporters of Pakistan's key opposition party gathered Tuesday in the capital Islamabad for a major anti-government rally, demanding Prime Minister Imran Khan step down.
The opposition alleges Khan has failed to improve the country's economy.
Protesters first assembled in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday and took to the road.
By Tuesday they set out around noon in hundreds of cars, buses, and buses from Rawat, a town in Punjab province, reaching the outskirts of the capital hours later.
The main motorcade halted along the road, waiting for other convoys from elsewhere in Pakistan to join them, before entering Islamabad in the evening.
The rally, which the opposition has been preparing for since late February in southern Sindh province, massed near the parliament building later on Tuesday night.
Pakistani opposition parties often hold such rallies, but this one follows a formal no-confidence motion against Khan that was submitted to parliament by the opposition.
Under the constitution, the speaker of the National Assembly now must convene a special session that will deliberate whether Khan still has majority support in the house.
Should Khan fail to win approval, the parliament will have to choose a new prime minister.
"The no-confidence motion against the prime minister is the democratic weapon of this crowd," said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party.
However, Khan has remained defiant, claiming he still enjoys the backing of the majority of lawmakers.
The Prime Minister needs 172 votes in the 342-seat assembly to stay on as premier.
Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician, came into power in 2018, but his popularity has declined since last year, mainly because of increasing inflation.
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