PDM rallies to continue despite hurdles, says Hoti

MARDAN: Former chief minister and Awami National Party (ANP) leader Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Friday said the government was creating hurdles for the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to prevent the opposition parties from staging the protest rallies, but it would not be able to do so.

Talking to reporters at the Mardan Press Club, he said that the government failed to prevent the PDM from holding its protest rally in Peshawar.

Haider Hoti added several suggestions were under consideration that included starting protest at district level, arranging meetings with traders and starting a complete shutter down strike, long march towards Islamabad to exert pressure on the rulers to step down.

The ANP leader said that tendering resignations from the assemblies was also under consideration. However, he added the PDM leadership would make a decision about this after the Lahore public meeting.

Answering a question about dispute between Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader and Member National Assembly (MNA) Mohsin Dawar, he said that Mohsin Dawar participated in PDM public meeting in individual capacity and not as representative of PTM. He maintained since the beginning PTM was not part of PDM. He argued that registered political parties were included in PDM’s alliance and PTM was not a registered political party.

Replying to a question about negotiations with government, he said that the PDM would not negotiate with the ‘selected’ government. He added the government is also not ready for negotiations with PDM. Haider Hoti added that the government did not respect the opposition and it made many decisions without consulting the opposition.