The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government plans to hold a "grand public rally" in Mardan this Sunday on the orders of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. Chief Minister Sohail Afridi says the rally is meant to show support for their leader and prove that the PTI founder leader still has a lot of public support.

The chief minister of K-P said that the rally will take place at the Mardan Railway Ground and asked people and PTI supporters from all over the country to come.

Afridi told the media in the federal capital on Monday that the rally would show the world that Imran Khan can still get a lot of political activity going, even from jail. He went on to say, "This rally will show that PTI is still Pakistan's largest political party, despite all the oppression." He said that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi had been wrongfully imprisoned and that the PTI leaders had been the victims of terrible things for years.

Afridi said, "On April 19, we will send a message to Imran Khan even though he is not there that the nation still stands firmly with him."
The chief minister asked all Pakistanis to come out in large numbers and warned that opponents, especially "digital touts" on social media, were spreading false information to ruin the event.

Imran Khan has told people not to hold any rallies or protests in Islamabad right now. The announcement of the Mardan rally comes at the same time. Earlier, the party had put off its planned public meeting at Liaqat Bagh in Rawalpindi, which was supposed to happen on April 9.

Imran Khan and Barrister Salman Safdar met at Adiala Jail on April 8, and those orders came from that meeting.
The PTI founder told the party to put off the Rawalpindi meeting because of the sensitive US-Iran peace talks going on in Islamabad. He stressed that Pakistan should support its diplomatic efforts.

Later, Safdar said that Imran Khan would personally announce any new date for protests.
Afridi later said at a press conference that the delay was made for the greater good of Pakistan and as a national duty. He said that all decisions about protests and public meetings would be made based on Imran Khan's orders. He also said that Imran Khan had ordered a big public gathering in K-P in the next 10 days.

 Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)