-PDM back tracks on resignations
-Announces to contest upcoming by-elections
-Decides to hold protests outside the offices of ECP, NAB
-Denies news reports on emergence of divisions in PDM’s ranks
-Devises mechanism for holding dialogue with government
From Abid Usman
Lahore: The first phase of the PDM’s anti-government movement had come to an abrupt end with the public meeting in Lahore on December 13 as the leadership had failed to announce any future plan to intensify their campaign.
Though the PDM leaders had declared they would make an announcement regarding district-wise protests, shutter down and wheel-jam strikes and the long march during the Lahore public meeting, no such plan was announced from the stage.
Later, the PDM leaders set Jan 31 deadline for Prime Minister Imran to resign or face a decisive long march to Islamabad sometime in February. It was after a meeting of the heads of the constituent parties of the PDM in Islamabad on Dec 8 that Rehman had announced that all the national and provincial lawmakers belonging to the opposition would hand over their resignations individually to the heads of their parties by Dec 31.
The Maulana had announced the decision during a press talk after presiding over a more than four-hour-long summit of the alliance which was also addressed by PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari through video link from London and Karachi, respectively. Today, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Friday that the opposition’s movement would not just be directed at the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government but also “his backers”, adding that the “establishment has held the entire system hostage by turning Pakistan into a deep state.”
Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the PDM leaders in Raiwind, Rehman said news of rifts within the PDM was run on media as part of a “campaign”, but stressed that such rumours had died today.
“PDM has come out stronger than before and is more determined than before to rid the nation of this illegitimate government,” said the PDM chief, speaking alongside other top opposition leaders including PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz but not PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
“Imran Khan is a pawn for [and] the people who did rigging and imposed him upon the nation, we want to make it clear [to them that] we blame the establishment and army leadership for this,” said Rehman. The meeting had been summoned to come up with a united stance on the issue of en masse resignations and participation in the upcoming elections on a number of seats of the national and provincial assemblies and the Senate. On Wednesday night, Rehman had met PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, after which they had announced that they wanted to provide an opportunity to PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to present his viewpoint on the issues of resignations and participation in the coming elections, following which they would try to develop a consensus.
The confusion arose earlier in the week when Bilawal, while addressing a press conference after his party’s central executive committee meeting in Karachi, said the CEC believed “that if we (joint opposition) take up the challenge of Senate elections collectively we can make a better impact and achieve larger success”.
He added that he would take up the CEC’s decisions before the PDM leadership and discuss a further plan of the opposition’s movement against the incumbent government.
