Imran Khan demands Pakistan PM's resignation

Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Saturday demanded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation and for new elections to be held as last year's polls were rigged.

Speaking to thousands of supporters in Islamabad at the end of a nearly 40-hour anti-government march, Khan announced he would not end his sit-in until Sharif resigns, Xinhua reported. "I am not going to leave this place, until true freedom is achieved for the nation," Khan said at Islamabad's Aabpara marketplace.

Khan led thousands of marchers into the Pakistani capital late on Friday to stage sit-in and present demands. The march was started Thursday from the eastern city of Lahore and the marchers arrived in Islamabad in nearly 36 hours.

The government has deployed around 30,000 security personnel including army troops to ensure security for the capital city. Khan claimed that the 2013 elections had been rigged and that Sharif has a "fake mandate". The government and the election panel have rejected his claim.

"I am going to stay here. Nawaz has only one option, he must resign and get re-elections done," Khan said. "I will not accept rigged elections," Khan told the people participating in the Azadi (independence) March amid heavy rain in Islamabad.

He said his party leaders approached the Election Tribunals and Supreme Court with complaints about the massive rigging, "but no relief was accorded". He said his long march poses no threat to the democratic system, adding that there is in fact "no democracy in our nation".

Several of Khan's supporters were injured after being hit by stones. Khan's PTI rules the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and has also reasonable representation in the National Assembly.

Sharif has ruled out threats to his government and ministers saying that no question arises of his resignation.