Imran Khan announces power show at Minar-e-Pakistan on Sunday

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday announced to hold a "grand" power show at Lahore's Minar-e-Pakistan on Sunday, Aaj News reported.

"PTI will hold a massive jalsa at Minar-e-Pakistan at 2pm on Sunday," he said while addressing an election rally at Data Darbar.

Imran said he was fighting this war for the nation and "our next generations," and that the entire nation had to come together in this struggle.

"My life is in danger every time I leave Zaman Park. But, I don't fear for my life, I fear for my country, which has come on the verge of destruction under the rule of these 'crooks'."

Imran said the ruling coalition was ready to go to "any extent" to knock him out of electoral politics. "They know they cannot win this election against me, therefore, they want me either disqualified or jailed before elections," he said.

At the outset of his address, Imran condemned the "cold-blooded murder" of PTI activist Ali Bilal aka Zille Shah and vowed to bring "those behind this heinous crime" to justice.

Earlier, Imran led PTI's rally from Zaman Park to Data Darbar after receiving permission from the interim provincial government. The rally was earlier scheduled for Sunday but had to be postponed after the caretaker government imposed Section 144 at the eleventh hour.

The administration allowed the rally on Monday, but mentioned that it would carry “high-security risk due to the general and specific threats against political gatherings and previous instance of attack on the ex-prime minister”.

Earlier, Imran claimed that Section 144 was imposed illegally in the city solely because of the "PTI election campaign as all other public activities are ongoing in Lahore."

He questioned the veracity of the caretaker government's move, saying that the "election schedule has been announced so how can Sec 144 be imposed on political activity?"

Last week, PTI Chairman Imran Khan announced that he would lead a public rally in the Punjab capital to kickstart the party's election campaign.

The PTI chief said that the “powerful” segments want to get the upcoming general elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cancelled at all costs.

“They would try to get the polls cancelled by assassinating a prominent personality or creating serious law and order situation in the country; I know that they would do something to stop the election,” he added.

Earlier, the Punjab caretaker government imposed Section 144 in Lahore and imposed a ban on the PTI rally on two occasions due to some other planned events in the city.

"We have restricted Rallies and Political activities for today as we have PSL Cricket Match, team movements, and Marathon in Lahore which were all planned and announced much in advance," Punjab caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a Twitter post.