ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Sunday called on his supporters nationwide to mark Feb. 8 as a “Black Day” and hold protests on the one-year anniversary of last year’s general election that the jailed leader’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party says were rigged.

The national polls on Feb. 8, 2024, were marred by a countrywide shutdown of cellphone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by the PTI and other opposition parties. The caretaker government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) deny the charges. The US House of Representatives, as well as European countries, have called on Islamabad to open a probe into the allegations — a move that Pakistan has thus far rejected.

Khan’s PTI candidates contested the Feb. 8 elections as independents after the party was barred from the polls. They won the most seats but fell short of the majority needed to form a government, which was made by a smattering of rival political parties led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“We will observe February 8th as a Black Day nationwide,” Khan wrote on social media platform X. “On this day, the mandate of the Pakistani people was blatantly stolen.”

The former prime minister directed Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the PTI is in power, to lead caravans from across the province for a public gathering in Peshawar, the provincial capital, on Feb. 8.

“I also instruct the legal community, including the Insaf Lawyers Forum and other (PTI) wings, to observe this day with vigorous protests,” he added. “Legislators, party officials and people from all walks of life must commemorate this attack on democracy as a Black Day.”

Khan was ousted from power in 2022 after what is widely believed to be a falling out with the country’s powerful top generals. The army denies it interferes in politics.

He has been in prison since August 2023 and faces a slew of legal challenges that ruled him out of the Feb. 8 general elections and which he says are politically motivated to keep him and his party away from power. Khan has either been acquitted or his sentences have been suspended in most cases. However, in the latest blow, Khan was handed a 14-year jail sentence in a land corruption case last week. 

Another pending case against Khan relates to charges of inciting supporters to attack military facilities to protest against his arrest on May 9, 2023.

His party is accused of leading several other violent protest rallies since the May 9 riots. 

All cases against Khan have been tried inside prison, away from the public or media eye, on security grounds.

The sentence in the land bribery case is a setback to nascent talks between the PTI and the government aimed at cooling political instability in the South Asian nation.

ISLAMABAD: A delegation of South Sudan’s legislative assembly is arriving in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad today, Monday, on a three-day visit to boost bilateral relations and parliamentary ties with Pakistan, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. 

The delegation will be headed by Nathaniel Oyet Pierino, the first deputy speaker of the South Sudan parliament. Pierino is visiting Pakistan on the invitation of Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to enhance parliamentary diplomacy, Radio Pakistan said. 

“These meetings will focus on fostering closer parliamentary cooperation, addressing mutual interests, and expanding the scope of bilateral relations across various sectors,” the state media reported. 

The South Sudanese delegation will engage in a series of important meetings with Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah and Deputy Chairman of the Senate Syedaal Khan.

The Sudanese delegation will meet prominent political figures and government leaders to further solidify ties between the two nations, Radio Pakistan added. 

The delegation arrives at a time when the African region is engulfed in turmoil as a civil war between a paramilitary group in Sudan and the country’s army rages on. The 20-month war has killed over 24,000 and driven over 14 million people from their homes, according to the UN. 

An estimated 3.2 million Sudanese have crossed into neighboring countries, including Chad, Egypt and South Sudan, to escape the horrors of the conflict. 

Pakistan has repeatedly called on the international community to support efforts for a ceasefire in the African country and urged both warring parties to desist from further bloodshed in the country.