LAHORE: Leaders of opposition 11-parties Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which held a long meeting at Jati Umra on Friday decided to contest the by-election, however, strategy about Senate polls and long March will be finalized after January 31, the deadline given by PDM to Imran Khan to quit the office of PM.
After the meeting, PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman told media that the PDM will take part in by-polls and will decide about the Senate elections later; as basically we are not against taking part in elections.”
Responding to a question, he said the PDM is stronger than before and rumours about conflicts within the component parties are false, as being spread with ulterior motives He said the PPP had given its suggestions in today’s meeting which were considered. “It is right of every party of the PDM to give their inputs but decisions are taken with mutual consultation,” he said.
Fazl reiterated that the selected government only has one month to resign, after which PDM parties will join heads and start planning the long march. “We will decide whether to hold long march towards Rawalpindi or Islamabad,” he said, adding: “The PDM will announce the date and venue after due consultation.”
Answering a question, he said that decisions were taken during the Friday’s PDM meeting but these are confidential and we will play our cards after due consideration.
The PDM Chief said the leaders of component parties of the alliance informed the meeting that they have collected resignations from all of their parliamentarians.
He announced that the PDM is holding a sit-in in front of Election Commission of Pakistan on January 19 to press for the acceptance of their demands. “We are also planning to hold protest before the NAB offices,” he said, adding: “We are not afraid of arrests and may start a movement to fill the jails.” He also slammed the arrest of Khawaja Mohammad Asif.
Maulana Fazl held the “selected” and “selectors” responsible for economic, constitutional and other crises prevailing in the country. “We are waging a just struggle to run the country’s affairs as per Constitution and in accordance with democratic principles.
When asked about his meeting with Mohammad Ali Durrani, he said he (Durrani) came without any intimation and presented his ideas about “national dialogue.”
Responding to a query, the PML-N leaders Maryam Nawaz said the two MNAs had submitted their resignations to her and we would use them collectively.
Earlier, the PDM held a meeting in which different proposals regarding the future course of action of their drive was discussed. The option of bringing no confidence motion was also discussed.
The PDM meeting also deliberated upon en masse resignations from the assemblies and contesting the Senate elections.
PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto joined the meeting through video link. PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz, Pervaiz Raheed, Ayaz Sadiq and Khawaja Saad Rafique represented the PML-N. The PPP was represented by Yousuf Raza Gilani, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Farahatullah Babar. Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Jamiat Ulema-e- Pakistan head Shah Owais Noorani, Qaumi Watan Party head Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Senator Sajid Mir, Dr Jamaldini, Mian Iftikhar and others attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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