“There is no point in staying in the system when the country is being ruined,” Imran Khan said as he made the announcement. He also said that if he did decide to march on Islamabad, no amount of law enforcement would be able to stop the crowds that would turn up.

Imran announced that party consultations will begin soon to determine the further strategy of leaving assemblies.

He said that the outpour of anger in the country after his government was removed could have turned Pakistan into Sri Lanka. “But,” said Khan, “we have always kept our protest within the limits of the constitution.”

Sticking to the narrative

Imran Khan also repeated claims that his government was removed through a foreign conspiracy. He cited the cipher as evidence of the foreign conspiracy again as well.

The PTI chief also said that a goverment of ‘crooks’ had been imposed by people who had the power to stop the conspiracy but did nothing. He said that for those with ‘real power’ in the country, corruption is not an issue.

He added that Pakistan’s econonmy was growing at a record rate when his government was removed.

A second life

In his first attendance at a political rally since getting injured in an assasination attempt, Imran Khan told supporters that God has given him a second life.

Imran Khan said bullets shot past him as soon as he fell down. “I thanked God immediately for saving my life,” he said.

Imran Khan visibly seemed in pain as he got to the stage while supporting himself on a walker. On stage he sat behind a bullet proof glass as he spoke.

This was the first time Imran Khan addressed a rally in-person since being injured in an assasination attempt on November 3 in Wazirabad. After being shifted to SKMH in Lahore, doctors revelad that four bullet fragments had pierced his right leg.

“It will take three months for me to get fully fit,” Imran Khan told the long march.