Shahid Astori, a 27-year-old electrical engineer, voted against Imran Khan when he was first elected as prime minister in 2018. His dislike of Khan only intensified during the former celebrity cricketer’s term, with Astori blaming Khan for painful inflation and an economic crisis.

Yet all that was forgiven as Astori joined thousands of demonstrators at a rally in the megacity Karachi to protest against Khan’s ousting from office last month. The former prime minister has sparked popular outrage by arguing that he was the victim of an alleged US conspiracy to remove him.

“I faced economic hardships too during Imran Khan’s government,” Astori said, his face covered in a bandanna made from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party flag. “But today we have to defend Pakistan and Imran Khan is doing just that.”