The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday formed a committee to hold consultations with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and other opposition parties before committing to a final date for their anti-government protest. The decision was taken at the party's central executive committee (CEC) presided over by its president Shahbaz Sharif and other senior leaders.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, PML-N senior leader Ahsan Iqbal said they will cooperate with every movement aimed at ousting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government including the JUI-F's proposed long march scheduled for October. However, the senior leader said majority of the participants of the meeting were of the view that the protest should be deferred until November because the PML-N needed to "fully mobilise" its ranks for any anti-government movement. "In this regard, the party has formed divisional committees to speed up mobilisation efforts," he added.
Last month, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman had announced a "decisive" long march aimed for ousting the present government in October. Maulana had warned the government against making any effort to disrupt the planned march and hoped that the people "from all walks of life and from all over the country" will reach Islamabad to participate in what he called an "Azadi March" to free the country of the present "incompetent and illegitimate government".