maulana-fazlur-rehmans-address-causes-outrage-in-pakistan-1-640x384The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Friday said the 11-party alliance is stronger than before, and that the rumours about conflict within are false.
The PDM held a meeting at Jati Umra in Lahore to make final decisions regarding the future course of action of their anti-government campaign. Addressing a press conference after the meeting, PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the alliance has become stronger than before and is even more determined to get rid of this ‘illegitimate’ government. “Our movement will not just be directed at the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government but also his backers. Imran Khan is a pawn for [and] the people who did rigging and imposed him upon the nation,” he said.
Fazl reiterated that the government only has one month to resign, after which PDM members will join heads and start planning the long march. “We will decide whether to hold long march towards Rawalpindi or Islamabad,” he said, adding that the alliance will announce the date and venue soon.
Speaking about the by-polls and Senate elections, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said PDM parties will participate in by-polls, adding that participating in the Senate elections will be taken by the alliance later. Answering a question, the PDM chief said that many of the decisions taken during the meeting prior to the conference are confidential, therefore, the alliance is not under any obligations to share everything with media.
Adding to the topic of resignations, PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz Sharif said that her party members have already submitted their resignations to her. Speaking to a private TV channel in response to PDM’s statements, Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that the “expression on PDM members’ faces showed that they did not make any significant decisions during their meeting.” he added that the main stakeholder in the assemblies is the PPP, which has still not issued any statements about their resignations.
The minister also said that the “Opposition’s narrative has been buried,” adding that Fazlur Rehman’s threats about staging protests outside of the NAB’s office are unconstitutional. “This is just [their] way to threaten state institutions,” Shibli Faraz said and questioned PDM’s intentions to attack the country’s accountability institution.
The PDM meeting had been summoned to come up with a united stance on the issue of en masse resignations and participation in the upcoming elections on a number of seats of the national and provincial assemblies and the Senate.
On Wednesday night, Fazl had met PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, after which they had announced that they wanted to provide an opportunity to PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to present his viewpoint on the issues of resignations and participation in the coming elections, following which they would try to develop a consensus. The confusion arose earlier in the week when Bilawal, while addressing a press conference after his party’s central executive committee meeting in Karachi, said the CEC believed “that if we (joint opposition) take up the challenge of Senate elections collectively we can make a better impact and achieve larger success”. He added that he would take up the CEC’s decisions before the PDM leadership and discuss a further plan of the opposition’s movement against the incumbent government.
