PDM seeks to quit assemblies to oust PTI govt

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday announced that all the opposition lawmakers, from both the National Assembly and provincial assemblies, are to submit their resignations from assemblies with their party leadership by the end of the month.

In a brief press conference, with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz flanking him, Maulana Fazl also announced that a meeting of a standing committee of the 11-party opposition alliance will be held shortly which will decide the schedule of strikes, protests and rallies in various divisional headquarters of the country.

“It will also be decided when to hold the long march [against the government] and its date will also be announced,” he added. He vowed the PDM’s Lahore public gathering on December 13 will be a “historic” one, and will prove to be the “last nail” in the government’s coffin.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief also referred to media reports of the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s conversation with journalists earlier in the day, in which he told them he was willing to negotiate with the opposition on “all things except corruption and NROs”. Fazl responded by saying the Premier wants an “NRO” from the PDM, but “the opposition rejects his offer for dialogue”.

He then departed without answering questions. When reporters pressed for answers, Maryam said: “Whatever the Maulana is saying represents the entire PDM.”

The PDM announcement came after a lengthy strategy meeting between the anti-government alliance’s leadership, which was also attended by Bilawal—who recently recovered from coronavirus—Yousaf Raza Gillani, Sherry Rehman, Maryam Nawaz, Marriyum Aurangzeb, while former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who attended remotely.

The opposition’s step to resign from the assemblies, talk of which has dominated the news waves for several weeks now, was reportedly dismissed by the Prime Minister earlier in the aforementioned meeting with newspaper journalists. He reportedly mentioned holding immediate by-elections if the opposition resigns from the assembly, Geo News reported.

PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal responded to the PM’s comments in a conversation with Hamid Mir on Geo News programme Capital Talk, where he said if every single opposition alliance lawmaker steps down “holding elections in 300-350 constituencies is not a by-election, it is a general election” and is akin to the Premier losing his seat.

He also said a date for when the long march to Islamabad is held will be announced in the December 13 rally. Iqbal also claimed that the “several government functionaries” had approached the opposition for talks, but it was too late and for anything to happen, Prime Minister Khan had to step down first. Earlier, as the alliance gathered for the strategy meeting, they were criticised by information minister Shibli Faraz, Firdous Awan and Shahbaz Gill. The information minister said the aim of opposition parties, which were rejected by the people in the 2018 elections, was not to serve the country but to protect their vested interests. “This is a democratic and elected government and the opposition parties will have to wait for the next three to eight years.”

He said it was during their regimes that the institutions were paralysed and nepotism was promoted. He, however, made it clear that “no NRO will be given to the corrupt leaders”.

Awan said the irresponsible behaviour of PDM was shameful in the wake of increasing number of corona patients. “The cheap narrative of PDM leaders is dead now as the people have rejected it,” she added. Gill said the PDM, a “corrupt alliance has crossed all boundaries to save illegal wealth”.