-Agrees to disagree with govt from January via long march
-Pledges to start agitations
-Issues warnings to national institutions
-Demands lowering of POL prices, power tariffs, commodities’ rates
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Raising the mantra of Prime Minister’s resignation, the All Parties Conference, held here on Sunday on call of PPP, forwarded loads of demands from government, threatening the ruling party of unleashing variety of agitation across country to be followed by a Long March in January next.
Announcing the APC communique, JUI Chief Fazal ur Rehman, who is not member of Parliament himself, said that opposition members will also resign from Parliament at a “suitable time”.
He said that the current government has been granted “fake stability by the same establishment” that interfered with the elections to bring the incumbent rulers to power. It expressed “extreme concern” over the increasing interference of the establishment in internal affairs of the country and regarded it as a “danger to the nation’s stability and institutions”.
The forum also demanded that elections be held again in a transparent manner and that electoral reforms should be passed in order to ensure free and fair polls.
Terming the Parliament a “rubber stamp”, the PDM declared that the opposition will not cooperate with the government in the legislative process. PDM also agreed upon a six-point action plan to depose the incumbent government, which would be implemented in phases. In the first phase that starts in October, opposition parties will hold joint rallies in all four provinces. The second phase will begin in December of this year, during which the opposition will hold “huge public demonstrations” across the country. In January next year, the opposition will set out on a “decisive long march” towards Islamabad.
The opposition will also enlist lawyers, traders, farmers, students, media as well as members of the civil society in its movement. In order to oust the government, opposition parties will use “every legal and constitutional option in and out of parliament, which include moving no-confidence motions and collective resignations from assemblies at an appropriate time,” the resolution states.
Responding to questions during the press conference, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that the PDM wants a “non-political establishment” as the Constitution does not allow the establishment to be involved in political matters of the country. He said that all the options listed in PDM’s action plan and joint resolution are constitutional and legal, including protests and demand for resignation.
Answering a question regarding rumours that some members of the opposition voted in favour of the government to ensure the passage of FATF-related bills last week, Bilawal said that votes fell short because some lawmakers could not attend the session due to different reasons. He assured that the opposition parties were on the same page and had demanded a vote recount. He said that the passage of laws during the joint session of the Parliament was made possible through “rigging”.
PML-N chief Shehbaz Sharif, in his statement at the press conference, said that the incumbent government’s survival is a “threat to Pakistan’s existence”.
Earlier, The stage is set for a much-hyped gathering of the opposition leaders at the PPP-hosted multiparty conference (MPC) aimed at devising a strategy to oust the PTI-led coalition government. The MPC being held at a five-star hotel on Sunday (today) has become all the more significant with the announcement that sup¬reme leader of the Pakistan Mus¬lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif will address its participants via video link from London, marking his political comeback after more than a year.
Besides Mr Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari also plans to deliver an opening speech through video link as he will not be able to physically attend the event due to his poor health condition.
Mr Sharif, who has been living in London for medical treatment and who has been declared a proclaimed off¬en¬der by an accountability court earlier this month in the Toshakhana vehicles reference with the court directive to the National Accountability Bureau to make his arrest through Interpol, had agreed to address the MPC after PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari talked to him over telephone on Friday and extended a formal invitation.
Responding to the opposi¬tion’s announcement regar¬ding Mr Sharif’s address to the MPC, a number of government ministers and advisers declared that a “proclaimed offender and a convicted person” could not address a political gathering and also warned of “legal action” if television channels aired his speech. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill on Saturday through his social media account on Twitter said “the Pakistan Electronic Media Regula¬tory Authority (Pemra) and other legal options” would be used if Nawaz Sharif addressed the MPC and if his speech was aired by TV channels.
“How is it possible that a fugitive carries out political activities and gives speeches? The Sharif clan can only spew lies. They are such big liars that they also lie about [their] medical conditions,” tweeted Mr Gill. On the other hand, the PML-N criticised the government’s planned move to black out the speeches of Mr Sharif and his daughter and the party’s vice-president Maryam Nawaz through a tweet suggested that his “speech should be telecast through live streaming on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube so that it can’t be blocked in the country”. Ms Nawaz has already arrived in Islamabad from Lahore for participation in the MPC and she will be part of the 11-member PML-N delegation under party president Shahbaz Sharif. The PML-N on Saturday officially announced the names of its leaders who would represent the party in the MPC.
