JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Friday said that the long march planned by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is likely to take place after the holy month of Ramazan.
“Conspiracies are being hatched against the PDM and efforts are being made to break apart the alliance,” Fazl said. “Allah has made us sensible. If we are unable to understand what is beneficial or harmful for us, then we should not do politics,” he said.
The JUI-F chief said he is expecting a ‘positive response’ from the PPP when its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting takes place on April 4 to decide on the issue of resignations. Fazl said he had suggested during the last PDM meeting that during the first phase, opposition lawmakers should resign from the National Assembly. “I recommended resigning from the provincial assemblies in the second phase [of the movement],” he said. “The recommendation was for [opposition lawmakers] to resign from the Sindh Assembly in the very end,” he added.
The JUI-F chief stressed there was no other option other than a protest movement against the government. “If we wanted to fight in the parliament, why did we create the PDM?” he asked. “We have to choose one of two options: either mobilise the masses or remain in parliament,” he added. The PDM’s long march scheduled for March 26 was postponed amid a difference of opinion on the issue of resignations from assemblies alongside the protest.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan People’s Party said it will not leave the PDM since it was the PPP that initiated the movement. “Who laid down the basis for the PDM?” Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, former senator and leader of the PPP, said. “Who gave it a platform? Who initiated the PDM? The chairman of the PPP [Bilawal Bhutto Zardari] did. So why will we leave the movement?” he asked.
“Whatever the CEC decides about resignations will be final,” said Bukhari. “Even in the last PDM meeting, the chairman of PPP said that he alone cannot make the decision and neither can he overrule the verdict of the CEC,” he added.
Bukhari said when the date of the long march was announced in February by the alliance, the march was ‘not clubbed together’ with the resignations of lawmakers. “The PDM was to make all decisions by consensus, there is no mention of decisions by only the majority,” he added.
He also argued that had the PDM not agreed to PPP’s suggestion to contest the Senate polls, the ruling party and its allies would have had 2/3rd majority in the Upper House. “Then they [the government] could have done whatever they wanted to with the 18th Amendment,” the PPP leader said. “They could have even brought in a presidential form of government if they wanted to,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif on Friday scolded his daughter Maryam Nawaz after she indulged in a heated debate with Hamza Shahbaz during a party meeting, a private TV channel reported.
According to details, the PML-N supremo headed a meeting to evolve a strategy regarding the PDM, which was attended by Sharif family members including Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Ishaq Dar and others. According to reports, Nawaz Sharif got annoyed with Maryam after she criticized the political approach of Hamza Shahbaz during the meeting. “The meeting saw a heated argument between Hamza and Maryam,” sources said, adding that Nawaz Sharif got irritated with the situation and walked out of the meeting multiple times.
