ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the alliance of the opposition political parties, on Monday, unveiled the schedule of its countrywide "massive" public rallies as part of its anti-government drive, and decided to hold its first public meeting in Gujranwala on October 16th to show its power.
The steering committee of the PDM met here under the convenership of Ahsan Iqbal, in which the office bearers of the newly-created alliance were also finalised, naming senior PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as secretary-general, PPP's Raja Pervez Ashraf as vice president, and the ANP's Mian Iftikhar Hussain as secretary information, while Maulana Fazlur Rehman has already been appointed as president of the PDM.
This was announced during a media talk by Ahsan Iqbal flanked by other senior leaders of the opposition parties including Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, and others.
Sharing the schedule of the countrywide public rallies, Ahsan said that the PDM would hold its first public rally in Gujranwala on October 16th.
He said that the PDM's earlier announced public meeting in Quetta was clashing with the one proposed to be held in Karachi, adding it was now decided that the rally in Karachi would be held on October 18th followed by Quetta on October 25th.
He further said that a massive rally would be held in Peshawar on November 22nd followed by another major public meeting in Multan on November 30th, and the final rally in Lahore on December 13th. "The December 13 rally in Lahore will prove to be "decisive" following which the "fake" set up which came into power under a "rigged" election will lose its power to stand on its foot, and ultimately, the people of Pakistan will announce their final decision," Ahsan maintained.
He said that the meeting also strongly condemned the "treason" cases lodged against the opposition leaders including former premier Nawaz Sharif, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and others, especially against the sitting Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Farooq Haider.
"Naming AJK prime minister in a "treason" case is an attempt to harm the Kashmir cause," he further maintained.
Speaking on the occasion, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the objective of the PDM was only to provide relief to the people of the country, as "the incumbent government is "selected" one which is unable to resolve the problems of Pakistan, and it has ruined the economy".
He said that the PDM had a two-point agenda -the sanctity of vote should be ensured and the country was run as per the Constitution. He hoped that people would join the PDM's campaign against the government, and that Pakistan would see a new beginning of democracy. He also thanked the opposition parties for appointing him as the secretary-general of the PDM.
Responding to a question whether the positions of the PDM's office bearers would be on rotation basis or permanent, he said that "these positions will remain till PDM is intact". Raja Pervez Ashraf, who was appointed as the PDM's vice president, said that the basic objective of the alliance was to represent the sentiments of the people of the country.
"Today, the people of Pakistan are suffering due to inflation, price hike and unemployed, and if we failed to speak up this time, I think it would be dishonesty with politics," he added.
Abdul Ghafoor Haider thanked the political parties in the PDM for appointing the JUI-F chief as president of the PDM. He said that the government had failed to deliver on its promises. Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that all the parties in the PDM had been given representations, and that they were taking all the decision unanimously and through mutual consultations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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