Imran Khan's supporters were carrying automatic weapons at Azadi rally, says Pak defence minister

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has claimed that protesters in the Azadi March were carrying not only guns but also automatic weapons on the orders of ousted prime minister Imran Khan.

Khan led his thousands of supporters of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party to Islamabad last Wednesday in a protest and had planned to stage a sit-in until new elections were announced but abruptly called off the sit-in at the last minute after making it to the capital.

However, he had threatened to return after six days if the government failed to give a date for snap polls in the country.

In an interview to Geo TV on Monday, Asif said the protesters at the Azadi rally were carrying weapons on Khan’s orders.

“Imran Khan is right, his party workers were not only carrying guns, but they also had automatic firearms. Imran Khan had asked protestors to bring weapons in the long march, however, the government was aware of that,” he said.

Asif was replying to a question on a recent interview of Khan in a private news channel in which he confirmed that his party’s workers were carrying firearms during the ‘Azadi March’.

Khan was removed from office in April through a no-confidence vote but he refused to accept the outcome and blamed that the US was involved in toppling his government.

The PTI chairman has been protesting ever since and calling fresh elections because, in his words, the incumbent coalition government was “imported” and not a true representative of the Pakistani people.