ANP leader says PDM to go ahead with Peshawar showdown

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial Information Secretary Samar Haroon Bilour on Tuesday said the opposition parties would hold its scheduled public rally in the provincial capital and threatened they would march on Islamabad if the government created a hurdle for them.

Speaking at a news conference here, she said the component parties of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had mobilized workers for the November 22 public gathering in Peshawar. “Our party workers will participate in the gathering while dressed in red clothes,” she said. She said the opposition parties that were part of the PDM would ensure participation in the gathering and it would prove a massive congregation. “We will never postpone the gathering,” she vowed.

About the standard operating procedures (SoPs) for Covid-19 and the government’s directive in this respect, she said that proper safety measures against the disease would be adopted. The organisers would provide facemasks and hand sanitizers at the entry points of the gathering, she said. She rejected the government’s decision to ban political gatherings in the name of Covid-19, and said the opposition would hold the event at all costs. Samar Bilour said the PDM gathering would be a well-organized political meeting. Criticizing the PTI government for its poor performance, she said it had failed to deliver on its pledges. “The rulers could not fulfill any of the commitments made with the people,” she said.

The ANP leader said the skyrocketing price-hike, bad governance, sharp rise in foreign debt and failure at both internal and external fronts spoke volumes about the failure of the rulers. She said the opposition parties were fully united at the PDM’s platform. “There are no differences among the component parties of the alliance. The government wants to create a rift among us by spreading propaganda,” she said.