The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will launch its countrywide anti-government protests from today (Wednesday).
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif held a high-level party meeting on Tuesday to finalise the schedule for protests and rallies against the PTI-led government.
The first jalsa will be held in Rawalpindi today, and Shehbaz Sharif is urging workers and leaders of the party at the district and provincial level tp take part in the protests.
PDM leaders in Islamabad will be meeting at 2pm, to decide the dates and venues for the Islamabad protests.
PDM, which had lost steam in previous months, is now once again, at the receiving end of the opposition’s criticism. Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed has said that the Prime Minister is lucky he has such a “worthless” Opposition to deal with and that the government does not feel threatened by the Opposition at all because “it is spineless”.
The call for protests come at a time when inflation is at its height and buying essentials in the country has become difficult.
Rasheed had also reacted to the Opposition’s criticism of the PTI-led government due to the rising inflation in the country and said that the situation arose due to the policies of the previous governments as well as the coronavirus situation in the country.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif’s remarks about the formation of a national government have stirred up a political debate in the country, reported Dawn.
PML-N termed the party president’s views as passing remarks based on his personal opinion about a post-election scenario.
“PML-N president and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif made a passing remark that if the people of Pakistan by the grace of God Almighty gave the PML-N the responsibility to govern again after the next elections, in his personal view he would not mind inviting other political parties, excluding the PTI, to contribute towards solving the massive crisis created by the Imran Khan government over their disastrous tenure in government,” said Marriyum Aurangzeb in a brief statement.
“Any news item carried by any news media stating otherwise is a misrepresentation of what the PML-N president said,” she added.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) described the statement as clear proof that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) no more exists. The PPP believed it was an effort by the PML-N leader to keep himself “politically alive”.
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that Sharif’s proposal of a national government was “a bid to save his own skin”.
Sharif, while speaking to journalists in Karachi said, “Frankly, I am telling you that sometimes when I look at these huge problems and challenges, I feel convinced that it’s not possible for one party alone [to fix them],” he had said, adding: “It needs collective wisdom. It requires collective efforts. That’s why I think we should have a national government in place to sort out these huge tasks. I don’t know what the exact shape of this idea would be and the right time may make things clearer but for me it’s crucial. Even if we [PML-N] win a majority, we can’t fix it alone.”
At the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) jalsa in Karachi on Sunday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif blamed “a few hundred thousand” of hijacking the country’s democratic system. Sharif was addressing the PDM jalsa from London via video link.
Nawaz vowed he would not stay silent anymore.
یہ وطن تمہارا ہے ہمیں ہیں خوامخواہ اس میں ، نواز شریف کا پی ڈی ایم جلسے کو خطاب pic.twitter.com/vmviZYr9w7
Reciting a few lines from the milli naghma (national song) ‘Yeh watan tumhara hai’, Nawaz Sharif changed a few lines to: “Yeh watan tumhara hai, hum hain khawamkhah iss mein [This country is yours and we are living in it for no reason].”
“Ai chand lakh logo, yeh watan tumhara hai, baaqi 21 crore hain khawamkhah iss mein [Dear few lakh people, this country is yours, the rest of the 21 crore people are living here for no reason],” further added Nawaz.
“It’s a crime to stay silent under the current circumstances,” said Nawaz.
“A few generals and elite of the society have made this democratic system a hostage. We remained silent when the elected prime minister was thrown out. We stayed silent when votes were snatched and blue-eyed people were imposed over the country to rule. We stayed silent when honest and God-fearing judges were implicated in false cases,” said Nawaz.
The PML-N leader said, “We stayed silent when the RTS [results transmission system] collapsed [in 2018 elections] and we stayed silent when the country’s poor segment of society was deprived of food. Now you have to decide that whether you want to stand with those who are suffering and scared or with those who raise their voice against injustice.”
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice-president Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday said that since the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is not part of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) anymore, therefore, it is not her priority.
Speaking to the media outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Maryam denied there were rifts in the PDM, saying that all parties in the alliance had the same stance as Nawaz Sharif.
“We all share the same ideology and the parties in the PDM have the same position that Nawaz Sharif has,” she clarified.
Maryam Nawaz said that the PPP is no longer a part of PDM, therefore, it should not be discussed now.
“PPP is neither my priority nor I have any competition with it,” she said.
پیپلزپارٹی میرا ہدف نہیں ہے میرا مقابلہ انکے ساتھ نہیں ہے.جسٹس شوکت عزیز صدیقی کو سچ بولنے کی سزا نہ دی جائے کیونکہ آج اگر کٹہرے میں جسٹس شوکت عزیز صدیقی کھڑے ہیں تو کل کو وہ جج جو انصاف اور قانون کے مطابق فیصلے کرنا چاہتے ہیں کھڑے ہونگے.@MaryamNSharifpic.twitter.com/F2DssPGQGx
Maryam added that the benefits of resignations would have been evident only if all the parties in the PDM had resigned.
استعفوں کا فائدہ تب ہوتا جب اس وقت پی ڈی ایم میں شامل تمام جماعتیں استعفٰی دے دیتی اگر آپ تقسیم ہوکر استعفے دیتے تو فائدے کی بجائے نقصان ہوتا.نوازشریف صاحب اورمسلم لیگ ن زیرو لوڈشیڈنگ چھوڑ کےگئی تھی 2013میں 22گھنٹےلوڈشیڈنگ تھی میاں صاحب نےکام کیااورلوڈشیڈنگ ختم کی@MaryamNSharifpic.twitter.com/gbnvCNuKWK
In an unforeseen turn of events, Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has joined hands with Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) in Larkana to give the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) a tough time in its stronghold, a private media outlet has reported.
However, the media report isn’t entirely true as brother of the JUI-F chief, Senator Attaur Rehman, has rubbished the same in conversation with The Current.
Amid widening cracks between members of the anti-government alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the media report had claimed that JUI-F has forged with the PTI and GDA a new alliance named “Larkana Awami Ittihad”.
It had went on to add that the alliance includes PTI leaders Ammer Buz Bhutto and Allah Bux with GDA’s Moazzam Ali Khan Abbasi and Safdar Abbasi.
“The newly-formed alliance has also announced extending the scope of the campaign against PPP in the entire Larkana division,” the report had claimed further.
When approached for a comment, Senator Attaur Rehman rubbished all claims and maintained that his party had only supported PTI backed-GDA candidate Moazam Ali Abbasi in Larkana by-election back in 2019.
“Even though the JUI-F and PPP have no electoral agreement to support each other’s candidates, especially in Larkana, there is no truth to the claims,” he said and added the “ages-old” alliance was making headlines only due to a recent statement by PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
Last Friday, Bilawal had claimed that the JUI-F sided with the “establishment” and opposed the PPP in the said by-election. “But despite that we accepted Fazl as leader of the PDM,” he had said.
“If that is true, did we forge an alliance with the PPP in Karachi and Ghotki also on establishment’s orders?” Senator Attaur Rehman asked.
To a question, he categorically denied the existence of any alliance between the JUI-F and PTI. “Let sleeping dogs lie,” he said.
Trouble has been brewing among members of the anti-government alliance since after former PM Yousuf Raza Gilani’s nomination by the PPP for the slot of opposition leader in the Senate. His election as the leader of opposition in the upper house has also only worsened the deteriorating ties.
Many, including leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and other PDM member parties, seem to believe the PPP has “backstabbed” the joint opposition.
The report by the private media outlet and its rebuttal come soon after it was revealed that the PDM has served show-cause notices to the PPP and the Awami National Party (ANP).
While contents of the notices have not yet been disclosed, sources told The Current that they also pertain to Gilani’s election as Senate’s opposition leader despite the PDM’s reservations.
The ANP, also a member of the PDM, had voted for Gilani.
“They [notices] were handed to ANP’s Hidayatullah Khan and PPP’s Sherry Rehman,” sources said.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz are suffering from fever and have suspended all political activities for four days, their parties have said.
Fazl, who also heads Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), has been suffering from the fever for the past two days,” a report said citing JUI-F sources. “He is currently residing at his Dera Ismail Khan residence.”
It further said Fazl had sent his sample for coronavirus testing but the result came back negative.
“He has suspended political activities [for the time being] as he is unwell,” said sources. “Doctors have advised him to rest.”
On the other hand, Maryam too has caught “high fever” and is experiencing severe pain in her throat, said the PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb.
“Maryam has suspended her political activities for four days,” she said in a statement. “She has also gotten herself tested for coronavirus.”
The PML-N spokesperson said Maryam has been advised by her doctor to take rest, adding she attended a Lahore High Court (LHC) hearing the other day despite being sick.
CRACKS IN PDM:
Responding to Maryam’s comments against their party, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders on Sunday said that the PML-N VP’s tone was regrettable but their party knows how to respond to taunting remarks.
Addressing a joint press conference with Shazia Marri and Maula Bux Chandio, Sherry said that while PPP Chairman Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari adopted a “political tone”, the PML-N VP’s tone in her Saturday’s press conference was “regrettable”.
“We were sorry to see the word ‘selected’ being used to describe the PPP,” Marri said. “However, the PPP knows how to respond to every taunting remark.”
“There are people in PML-N who understand the delicacy of the occasion. We will continue democratic traditions inside and outside the parliament,” she said.
The PPP leader said that her party had reservations against Azam Nazeer Tarar, PML-N’s candidate for leader of the opposition slot in the Senate.
Advising Maryam, Sherry said that the PML-N VP must “reorient her political objectives” and “stick to [the aim of] ousting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government [instead of issuing controversial statements]”.
“We do not want the PDM to dissolve, therefore, the PML-N should refrain from issuing remarks that would empower the selected government,” she stressed.
Adding to the comments, Maula Bux Chandio said that the PDM is neither “anyone’s property” nor “a child’s play.”
“Therefore, saying that the long march will not take place is [inappropriate],” Chandio said.
Special Assistant to Punjab Chief Minister (CM) on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has revealed that she is not getting paid.
“How can I protest at my own shop?” she said when suggested to do so by host Muhammad Shoaib during a rather light-hearted interview that aired on Wednesday morning.
Firdous and the host were seen having quite a day with jet-skiing among other water-related activities in Karachi.
The government official was also spotted sailing a boat and taking digs at the opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHu2TG4dnkA
“It has run out of fuel like the PDM,” she could be heard as telling the host when her jet ski stopped working.
Firdous also spoke about how Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan didn’t have any favourites, she wanted to do parasailing but the winds were too strong, and she has been quite a lot into water sports since forever.
Punjab president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Rana Sanaullah, has revealed that confusion prevails among ranks of the joint opposition ever since Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) — also a member of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), said he is weak and cannot fight the establishment on his own.
The PML-N leader, speaking to Geo News’ programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath, said he was unable to understand what the former president meant by that statement.
Sanaullah said the joint opposition had decided that office of the leader of opposition in Senate would be set aside for the PML-N but the PPP kept saying it deserved to appoint him or her from within their ranks.
پی ڈی ایم کے گزشتہ سربراہی اجلاس میں آصف زرداری نے کہا کہ وہ ایک کمزور آدمی ہیں اور اسٹیبلشمنٹ سے لڑ نہیں سکتے ، آصف زرداری نے کہا کہ میرا ایک ہی بیٹا ہے۔ انکی ان باتوں کی ریکارڈنگ بھی موجود ہے ۔ رانا ثنا ء اللہ
“During Zardari’s speech, someone came inside [his room] and said that there is chaos outside. After that, Zardari changed his stance,” he said.
Following the disturbance, according to Sanaullah, Zardari said he is weak and cannot fight the establishment on his own. “I have only one son, and no one else.”
Sana also said PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz was upset over some words of the former president’s speech, adding that the PPP co-chairman even apologised to Maryam Nawaz for it.
The PML-N leader was talking about the key PDM meeting from last week during which opposition parties were unable to achieve a breakthrough on the issue of resignations from the parliament before the long march as the PPP remained the only party reluctant to resign.
Following the meeting, rumours of the PPP backstabbing the joint opposition went rife, as they remained at crossroads over the appointment of the Upper House’s Opp leader.
“It was not my intention to hurt your feelings,” Zardari said to Maryam after the meeting during which Zardari had spoken at length to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif via videoconferencing and urged him to return to Pakistan if he was ready to wage a war against the government.
Maryam and Bilawal have reportedly since been trading barbs.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has directed the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chapter to continue preparations for the March 26 long march to Islamabad, reports said Thursday.
A letter was written to the party’s KP leadership on Fazl’s directives, directing the leaders not to slow down the preparations. The letter said the long march has only been postponed until Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) makes its decision on the march.
Nine of the 11 component parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) are ready to participate in the long march while PPP has sought time to make a final decision concerning en masse resignations, the letter said.
The development comes two days after the opposition alliance announced to postpone the long march after PPP linked its resignations from the legislative assemblies with deposed prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif’s return — a condition PML-N termed out of the question.
“Nine parties [of PDM] were in favour of resignations along with the long march but PPP had expressed some reservations,” Fazl told reporters on Tuesday, adding the PPP would discuss the matter during its upcoming central executive committee (CEC) meeting.
A day earlier, Fazl held a telephonic conversation with Nawaz and urged him to return to Pakistan, saying with top PML-N leadership living abroad in self-exile, it was difficult to execute decisions taken by the opposition alliance.
After spending a year in prison, Nawaz, 71, secured a conditional bail in November 2019 to travel to London on the pretext of medical treatment and has since refused to return.
His party insists that despite being summoned by the courts, which declared him a proclaimed offender in multiple corruption trials, the former premier will only return after the completion of his medical treatment.
With differences apparently coming to the fore among ranks of the opposition alliance as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) seems to be stepping back from confrontation, a statement by former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif has raised quite a few eyebrows.
Talking about the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) Tuesday meeting, Nawaz told reporters in London that the long march “was set to be held on its time”, but the PPP had sought time to discuss the issue of the resignation in its Central Executive Committee (CEC) due to “reasons you already know”.
He, however, dodged a question pertaining to the possibility of a deal being struck, “a consequence of which could be delays in joint opposition’s anti-govt plans, as sought by the PPP time and again over the past several months”.
Earlier in the day, PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari urged the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo to return to Pakistan to strengthen the PDM.
The two senior leaders spoke during the meeting of the anti-government alliance, wherein the former president told Nawaz that he must be ready to go to jail if they wish to fight against the establishment.
Zardari said that he remained in jail for 14 years. He urged the PML-N supremo to return to the country at the earliest. He complained that PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar did not come to Pakistan to cast his vote in the Senate election.
“The struggle against the establishment should be aimed at achieving democratic stability, instead of settling personal scores,” Zardari told the meeting.
Nawaz, who attended the meeting through video link, was told that he needs to return whether the PDM moves forward with a long march or a no-confidence motion. Zardari further said that Nawaz’s presence was extremely important to secure support from Punjab.
Speaking to Nawaz about the idea of mass resignations, Zardari maintained that such a move would only help PM Imran Khan and the members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
He further stated that no move would be made to divide the parties of the PDM, emphasising that their war is within the parliament, not from the mountains.
“When you return to Pakistan, we will hand over our resignations to you,” Zardari added, urging both Sharif and Dar to return.
Defending her father, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz stressed that her father’s “life is in danger” and questioned how he could return under the circumstances.
“Does Zardari sahab guarantee that my father’s life will not be in danger in Pakistan?”
Maryam then reportedly said that she is there “of her own accord”.
“Just like you are on video link, so is Mian sahab,” she said.
She said that Nawaz’s life is “threatened under NAB custody” and that he had suffered “two heart attacks while in jail”.
While the episode has “exposed” cracks within the opposition alliance which analysts say have now been there for a long time, reports claim Zardari later apologised to Maryam.
“It was never my intent to have you apologise. I merely considered myself a daughter to you and complained as Bakhtawar or Aseefa would,” Maryam reportedly told the former president.
