Bushra Bibi urges people to join Nov 24 protest; skips it herself

After urging people to join Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) "decisive" Islamabad protest, Bushra Bibi, the wife of jailed party founder Imran Khan, won't be attending the same herself.

According to the former first lady's spokesperson Mashal Yousafzai, she won't be attending the "do-or-die" protest due to illness.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, in conversation with a private media outlet, also confirmed that Bushra would not participate in the PTI demonstration due to ill health.

It may be noted that the announcement comes amid severe backlash over a video message wherein the former first lady had hinted at Saudi involvement in her husband's ouster.

In a rare on-screen appearance, Bushra had on November 21 released a video message to urge people to take to streets for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) “decisive” Nov 24 protest. She had gone on to talk about her husband’s ouster as the prime minister.

“The reason behind all powers standing against Khan hasn’t been told before. When Khan went to Madinah barefoot, Bajwa immediately started receiving calls about what kind of person he had brought [with him],” she said.

According to Bushra’s allegations, Saudi leadership told Gen Bajwa that he had brought with him the “custodian of Shariah” at a time they were trying to “distance themselves from the Shariah system”.

“After this, a smear campaign was launched against us, and [they] started calling Khan a Jewish agent," the former first lady claimed.

As the claims drew strong reactions from members of the government, PTI leaders and supporters alike – with only a few defending or clarifying Bushra’s remarks – her husband and party founder Imran Khan’s official account on X has posted an apparent clarification.

“Bushra Bibi's statement was deliberately taken out of context to draw our brotherly country KSA into a needless controversy. She didn't mention Saudi Arabia at all. My government was toppled through conspiracies, all orchestrated by General Bajwa. I tried to have these investigated through the Chief Justice and General Tariq Khan, but General Bajwa did not allow that to happen. Bushra Bibi has no connection with politics; she only conveyed my message to the nation, as my wife, regarding the November 24 protest,” read the statement on X.

Khan’s account also claimed that bilateral relations between Pakistan and KSA were at their best during his tenure and he personally shared “excellent” relations with the Kingdom. “I have excellent relations with Saudi Arabia. When I was attacked in Wazirabad, one of the first calls I received was through the embassy from HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”

“Saudi Arabia has always stood by us in difficult times. Only two weeks prior to our government being toppled, we held a very successful OIC foreign minister's conference in Islamabad, which would have been impossible to do had Saudi Arabia not supported and stood with us,” the statement added.

Former prime minister (PM) Khan has been in jail since August last year without any access to the internet or his social media accounts. Posts on his official handles have time and again made headlines over confusion surrounding actual handlers of said accounts.

PTI maintains that all statements on Khan’s social media are conveyed via his legal team after seeing him at Adiala Jail.

Meanwhile, convoys led by top leadership of the PTI are currently en route to Islamabad from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as the party decides to go forth with its plans to demand Khan's release by taking to the streets.

PTI's march on Islamabad comes reportedly after talks with the government ended inconclusively. The federal government, in light of an Islamabad High Court (IHC) order and the upcoming visit of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko to Pakistan, has denied PTI the permission to hold a protest rally in the capital.