'Chowkidar chor hai' slogan raised against Pakistan Army after Imran Khan's ouster. Watch

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has taken out massive rallies in several cities across the country to protest against Imran Khan's ouster.

"Chowkidar chor hai" slogan was heard at one of the rallies taken out by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders against the ouster of Imran Khan as Pakistan's Prime Minister. The slogan, first raised in India by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was used in Pakistan against its Army for allegedly stealing Imran Khan's mandate.

PTI leader Sheikh Ahmed addressing a rally in Pakistan's Rawalpindi.

The crowd gathered at Lal Haveli in Pakistan's Punjab province against Khan's ouster referred to the Pakistan Army as “chowkidar”, or the gatekeeper, and called them "chor", or thieves.

Former interior minister Sheikh Rashid, however, was seen trying to stop the protestors from raising the slogan against the Army.

"Don't raise slogans... we will fight with peace," he said.

Pakistan National Assembly removed Khan as Pakistan's PM in a midnight vote on a no-confidence motion after multiple delays due to Speaker's reluctance to take up the matter despite the Supreme Court's order. As many as 174 members recorded their votes in favour of the motion to remove Imran Khan from the office after the Speaker and the deputy Speaker tendered their resignation late Saturday night.

Referring to the no-confidence motion, Sheikh Rashid said: "If you want to save your country then don't take a decision in the dark of night but in daylight."

"On 29/4 there will be Eid. Be ready we will take the jail bharo movement from Lal Haveli daily. I myself will take it from Karachi," he said, adding that he "will tell all the Sindhis that they (then opposition) are thieves, docents and robbers."

On Sunday, the PTI took out rallies in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Lahore and several other cities with demonstrators shouting slogans against the Opposition.

Earlier, Khan said that his ouster marked the beginning of a "freedom struggle" against what he called a "foreign conspiracy of regime change". In a bid to galvanise his supporters, the ousted PM said "it is always the people who protected their own sovereignty and democracy".

"Pakistan became an independent state in 1947; but the freedom struggle begins again today against a foreign conspiracy of regime change. It is always the people of the country who defend their sovereignty & democracy," he said in another Tweet.

The National Assembly session to elect the new prime minister will be held at 2.00pm on Monday. Nomination papers of Pakistan joint opposition candidate Shehbaz Sharif and PTI's Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been approved for the race. Sharif, with numbers on his side, is most likely to become the next Prime Minister of the country.