Islamabad— Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and thousands of his supporters have started a march to the capital to try to pressure the government to call snap elections.

Since being removed in April through a no-confidence vote in parliament, Khan has held rallies across Pakistan, stirring opposition against a government that is struggling to bring the economy out of the crisis that Khan’s administration left it in, Al Jazeera reported.

Khan plans to lead the motorised caravan slowly northwards up the Grand Trunk Road to Islamabad, drawing more support along the way before entering the capital next week.

By the time he gets there, Khan said he expects to have hundreds of thousands of people with him, and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has asked authorities in the capital to allow a sit-in.

About 10,000 demonstrators, many of them piled into hundreds of trucks and cars, left on Friday from the eastern city of Lahore.

Addressing supporters before the departure, Khan described the endeavor as a “peaceful march” and said his political struggle against the government would continue until it agrees to hold early elections. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has repeatedly said the elections will be held as scheduled in 2023.