Pakistan Tehreek Insaf Chief Imran Khan has announced that his party will march on Rawalpindi on Saturday, November 26 to demand snap elections.

Addressing his supporters via a video link as the PTI Haqeeqi Azadi March participants arrived in Rawat on the outskirts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the former prime minister urged the “entire nation” to come to Rawalpindi where, he said, he will announce his future line of action.

Imran Khan’s announcement leaves exactly one week between now and the day he marches to the garrison city. In the intervening period, the government will likely announce the next chief of army staff.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Friday that the process for the appointment of the next COAS will begin on Monday and the name will be announced by Tuesday or Wednesday.

The PML-N government has repeatedly claimed that Imran Khan is marching on the twin cities in an attempt to influence this key appointment. Khan says he only wants the next COAS to be ‘appointed on merit’ and that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is living in exile in London, has no right to provide input on such a significant decision.

In the video-link address that lasted nearly an hour, Imran Khan said he still faced threats to his life but will arrive in Rawalpindi to lead the protest next week.

The PTI chief said that it was political parties and not the military that could keep the country united.

Imran Khan defended himself against what he called propaganda over his decision to retain and sell a previous Graff watch gifted to him as prime minister of Pakistan by Saudi rulers in 2018.

He said a particular media group, the PMLN, and the “Dirty Harry” had joined hands to malign him.

The former prime minister also questioned the rationale of the establishment behind re-installing PMLN and PPP in power and said that the economy had deteriorated in the seven months since his removal.

Incidents of terrorism increased by 53 percent because these people are occupied by getting their court cases closed, he said.