ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Tuesday, sought to keep the 10-party opposition alliance intact by urging the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP) to review their decisions and return to the alliance.
The PDM leaders sans PPP and the ANP met here under the chair of Maulana Fazlur Rehrman to discuss the situation in the wake of the deepening cracks and the resignations by the PDM office bearers from the two parties.
Talking to media persons after the meeting along with other PDM leaders including the PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal, and Quami Watan Party's Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Maulana Fazlur Rehman underscored the need for dialogue to sort out differences within the opposition alliance, adding that the PDM was not created with a view of seeking some "positions".
“We have passed through many challenges and we were always able to sort things out with dialogue and mutual understanding. Even today, the PPP and ANP have the opportunity to review their decisions and return to the forum,” the JUI-F leader said, while referring to the PPP and the ANP’s departure from the alliance.
He regretted the PPP and ANP’s decisions, saying that they should not have adopted such a “behaviour” and they were not expected to do so.
He also defended the earlier “show-cause” notices to both the PPP and the ANP, saying that it was the right of the alliance to seek an explanation for the “manner” they got Yousaf Raza Gillani appointed as leader of the opposition in the Senate.
At the time of the appointment of Gillani as opposition leader, the PML-N and other PDM component parties had accused the PPP and the ANP of violating the PDM’s consensus decisions and to have sought Balochistan Awami Party (BAP)'s support for Gillani’s appointment. Maulana further said that all opposition political parties in the alliance have equal status, but the PDM does have an administrative structure. He said that majority of the decisions were made with consensus, adding that candidates for the chairman and the deputy chairman Senate and leader of opposition in Senate were decided by consensus. He further stated that on many occasions when there was not a complete consensus on an issue, it was further brought for more discussions, adding that democracy always remained at the centre of the PDM’s decisions. “Unnecessarily" making the show-cause notices a matter of self-esteem is not in line with the demands of politics…They could have called a session of the PDM as well, stating that they will explain the matter at the forum,” he said that the two parties could have convened a meeting of the steering committee. “It was unfortunate that reports of the show-cause notice being torn by the PPP chairman came to the fore. The latest news is that they said "who are these people to demand an explanation from us"," Maulana further stated.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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