Opposition decides to widen anti-govt alliance

ISLAMABAD: The opposition parties have decided to further expand the anti-government alliance and planned important contacts and meetings with the like-minded parties in this regard.

As a part of its contact drive and to expand the alliance, the opposition leadership will visit Sindh and during the three-day stay there, it will meet the leaders of like-minded parties, including Pir Pagara as well as the Grand Democratic Alliance and Ayaz Palijo in Hyderabad.

The opposition delegation will include Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Asad Qaiser, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Akhunzada Hussain, BNP Mengal and MWM leaders, while the delegation of opposition leaders will also include PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja.

The opposition alliance will also meet the business community, the bar association, the PTI Karachi officials, and journalists.

Separately, ex-PM and convener of Awaam Pakistan Party Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has told reporters along with Mahmood Achakzai that consultations with the opposition parties were ongoing, as people wanted a solution to the current situation in the country.

“Mehmood Khan Achakzai consulted me on the national conference being held on February 26-27. We agreed to hold the moot to find a way out to the country’s problems, as we want to play a role in solving the country’s problems,” he contended.

He said they wanted to invite everyone to the conference. He explained that the conference will discuss national issues, while the youth of Pakistan was disappointed.

“To end their disappointment, we need to end the country’s problems. Our survival lies in supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law,” he argued.

Speaking on the occasion, Tehreek Tahafuz Aiyeen-e-Pakistan chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said parliament should be made the supreme institution through a genuine vote. “Everyone is welcome to attend the conference, including even serving and retired generals and judges. We should use our collective wisdom to steer the country out of crises,” he remarked.

He said Nawaz Sharif had raised the slogan of give respect to the vote while ‘our country was disintegrated when we did not respect the vote and second time when we did so, we saw our prime minister being put to gallows’.

Achakzai wanted a fresh beginning for a democratic Pakistan, with rule of law and supremacy of the constitution. To a question, he said veteran politician Akhtar Mengal had already interacted with parties in Sindh.