People’s Party betrayed PDM, says Ahsan

MULTAN: Pakistan Muslim League-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal Saturday categorically said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) betrayed and sabotaged the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) by capturing the opposition leader slot in Senate and inducting itself as the ‘selected’ opposition.

Addressing a joint press conference at the residence of senior PML-N leader Javed Hashmi, he said the PPP did not take the PDM into confidence over Senate opposition leader’s nomination. The betrayal is harmful to the PPP. The PPP got the support of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) in capturing the Senate opposition leader slot. Everyone knows about the creators of BAP, he added.

“Now the PPP has changed its commitments, priorities and made a new alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, Awami National Party and BAP after betraying the PDM,” he added.

Ahsan said the PPP dejected them and joined hands with BAP, which was very shocking to the whole PDM. If the PPP was so much interested in capturing the Senate opposition leader slot, they would have taken Nawaz Sharif into confidence, he added. “Now the PPP has become a selected opposition,” he added.

He said the entire country was serving the sentence awarded by the incumbent government. People of Multan and south Punjab were also serving their sentences. People of south Punjab were remembering Shahbaz Sharif today. He said the PML-N was ready to support the government to make Bahawalpur and south Punjab provinces as the PML-N had already submitted resolutions in that regard. The PML-N government had given universities to the region, he added.

Ahsan Iqbal said every Pakistani would have to stand up to save the country. The PTI government had bankrupted the economy. He alleged the government had borrowed from the IMF to run Pakistan's economy, and sacrificed national sovereignty. The presidency had also become a Pakistan ordinances factory. An ordinance has been issued from the presidency for levying taxes of Rs900 billion. This is an attack on the constitution and Parliament. This government has abolished the Higher Education Commission and made it a directorate. Imran Khan has a third class cricket degree and he has no knowledge about higher education, he added. Ahsan said the PTI government has given Kashmir to India. The government has compromised on the Kashmir dispute.

Pakistani nation is a dignified nation, he said, adding, “Imran has misled the Pakistani nation.” The PTI government has destroyed every single institution and it did not have the capacity to run the system, he added. When institutions are destroyed, then the state collapses, he said. “Broadsheet files have also disappeared. Who will ask this government where the broadsheet files have gone,” he added.

He said the PML-N government was ousted through rigging. What plan had this government made in the last three years. This government also angered China and Saudi Arabia. US President Joe Biden has summoned leaders of 40 countries for an international conference on climate change, but did not invite Pakistan. Responding to a query, he said the PPP had harmed itself. Yusuf Raza Gilani was a respectable person and it was his democratic duty to take everyone into confidence before becoming the Senate opposition leader. Responding to another query, he categorically said the PPP had parted ways with the PDM.