APC decides to be tough on PTI

ISLAMABAD: The All Parties Conference (APC) of the opposition, while deciding to give tough time to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies inside and outside parliament, on Thursday also took the decision of fielding joint candidates for slots of prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker and also constituted an action committee to chalk out its future plan of action.

Senator Sherry Rehman while briefing newsmen said that the APC decided that the PML-N would field its candidate for the seat of the prime minister while candidates for election of the speaker and deputy speaker would be taken from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

“The parties concerned will forward names of their candidates for election of Leader of the House in the National Assembly, Speaker and Deputy Speaker,” Sherry Rehman said.

The sources within the parties say the PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif or Khawaja Asif would be candidates of the grand opposition for slot of the prime minister while the PPP is expected to field Syed Khursheed Shah or Naveed Qamar for election of the National Assembly Speaker. The MMA leadership is considering names of Maulana Abdul Wasay and Asad Mehmood as candidates for Deputy Speaker’s election.

The opposition parties, mainly including PML-N, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Awami National Party (ANP), Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and National Party (NP), held a meeting here at residence of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders who have decided to support the PTI government, did not turn up for the meeting on Thursday.

Prominent among those who attended the APC sitting on Thursday at the residence of Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq included Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Syed Khursheed Shah, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Sirajul Haq, Mir Hasil Bazinjo, Ahsan Iqbal, Marriyum Aurengzeb, AsfandYar Wali, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Mushahid Husain Sayed, Farhatullah Babar and others.

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman, flanked by Mian Iftikhar Hussain of ANP, Mushahid Husain Sayed of PML-N and MMA leader Liaquat Baloch and others, said that all the opposition parties had decided to go to parliament and take on the puppet and rigged government effectively. “Today was third sitting of the opposition parties and they agreed on most of points and it was decided that all the parties will go to lower house of the Parliament to take oath and attend further proceedings,” Sherry Rehman said and added through a planned rigging, particular party was favoured.

However, she said the democratic forces which gathered on Thursday would make their place where they get the space and give tough time to the puppet government. Terming the July 25 elections as highly rigged, Sherry Rehman said there would be strong protest inside and outside Parliament. “We will play role of an organised and strong opposition,” she said.

The PPP parliamentarian, however, said that after finalising Terms of References (ToRs) of alliance of the opposition parties, it would be taken forward as per decided ToRs. Referring to rigging in general elections, Sherry Rehman said that National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) had also admitted that the Results Management System was made ineffective.

Sherry Rehman said the action committee would continue to meet for the next a few days to decide future plan of action. The All Parties Conference Action Committee include Senator Sherry Rehman, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Liaquat Baloch, Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, Marriyum Aurengzeb, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Senator Mir Kabeer Ahmed Muhammad Shahi, Senator Usman Kakar, Syed Naveed Qamar, Senator Usman Kakar, Awais Noorani, Malik Ayub and Raza Muhammad Raza.

The Action Committee which briefly met on Thursday also will hold its first formal meeting at the residence of Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Friday afternoon. Mian Iftikhar Hussain of ANP, however, said they were not going to National Assembly as opposition but were in a position to form the government. “Our role will be offensive and not defensive and those going to other side can come back to us,” he said.

Ahsan Iqbal said it happened for the first time in country’s history that majority of political parties have rejected polls results. “We will try our best to defeat puppets who are aligning to form the government,” he said.

Liaquat Baloch of MMA said the nation witnessed record rigging in July 25 elections. “The winning candidates are also ashamed as to how they won polls and those losing elections also do not know as to what happened with them,” he said.

Marriyum Aurengzeb said the coming puppet government would come to know as how role of a real opposition is played. “All the democratic forces have gathered under an umbrella and their elected candidates have also decided to take oath,” he said.

Senate ex-deputy chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said that JUI-F was of the view that its elected members would not take oath but their allied party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) proposed that struggle should be waged inside Parliament.