ISLAMABAD: In order to figure out a modus operandi to show the incumbent PTI-led govt the door, leaders of the opposition parties converged here today at an APC organized by PPP-P.
Former president Asif Ali Zardari while delivering the opening speech thanked PML-N’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif for virtually taking part in the huddle. He criticized PTI-led govt. over utilizing tactics to suppress the opposition and Media.
While speaking about PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz he said: “We have seen the difficulties she has faced and we can understand because my own sister has gone to jail and my wife went to jail. We pay tribute to her and we are with you, and will keep fighting for your cause and you will keep fighting for ours, I am sure.”
Nawaz Sharif while addressing the APC from UK by means of Video Link stated: “I am thankful to the organizers of the conference for giving me the opportunity to talk. Even though I am away from my country, I know very well what condition the country and the people are in. I believe this is a decisive turn; it is necessary to protect democracy & take fearless decisions…
“Pakistan has been constantly deprived of a democratic system. When the vote is dishonored, the entire democratic system becomes meaningless. When it is decided before the election process as to who will win and who will lose, then it can be guessed how the public is betrayed and how the public’s mandate is stolen…
“Pakistan has become a laboratory of “such experiments. Every child knows that no prime minister has been allowed to complete five years in power. All dictators have spent multiple years while premiers have hardly been allowed to complete their term…
“When a dictator was first brought into the courtroom for violating the Constitution, you saw what happened. Court gave dictators the right to play with the Constitution and acquitted someone who broke the Constitution twice. Whereas, the ones who follow the Constitution are still in jail.”
He said that the root-cause of the problems was the malady in the form of ‘parallel government’. Reminding that former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani once pointed towards “a state within a state” in Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif held: “It is saddening that the situation has escalated to a state above the state. This parallel government illness is the root-cause of our problems.”
He pointed out that the opposition’s struggle was not against the PM but those who brought him into power through the 2018 elections.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stressed upon the need for the multiparty conference to come up with a proper plan of action for gaining freedom for the people: “If elected representatives cannot even speak in parliament and get their votes re-counted, what hope will the nation have?”
Demanding that the opposition be given a level-playing field – not only in politics and media but in parliament as well – Bilawal Bhutto urged the opposition to unite and launch a movement similar to MRD: “We are standing with the decision this forum takes and are willing to fight till our last breath.”
Shehbaz Sharif stated that the dictatorships in the country’s history had not only put a black mark on democracy but also damaged the judiciary: “Remember when a selected government came into power and the selected prime minister promised the nation that the discrepancy in the elections, the disappearance of the RTS system, and the pre-engineering of election results would be investigated.”
Chief of JUI-F Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, while addressing the participants of the conference, called upon the opposition parties to take concrete decisions and resign from the assemblies they have been elected to. He said that Sindh Assembly, where PPP is in a majority, should also be dissolved. Sindh is the only province where an opposition party is in power. JUI-F chief lashed at the opposition parties and accused them of stepping back: “You people are the reason they (government) has survived for two years.”
Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman proclaiming that the option of compromise was not available declared and called for a boycott of all government ceremonies, non-participation in legislative process, detachment from all international agreements made by the unconstitutional government: “Don’t you all know that whether it’s black money or illegal money transfer; the actual budget of secret agencies comes from that. So when we say that the money goes to terrorists, the money that goes to support state-sponsored terrorism should also be blocked.”
Commenting on APC the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said here today that it was a flimsy attempt to put pressure on the government to back off on accountability. Taking to the Twitter he stated: “Nation has witnessed that opposition has used politics for personal gains and used Parliament to protect their personal empires.”
CM Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar maintained that the opposition parties deceived themselves through holding of APC. According to him the unemployed politicians should keep this in mind that the APCs could not ensure public acceptability. He said that serving people was the real politics which was the hallmark of the incumbent PTI-led coalition Govt.
Buzdar claimed that people had complete confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan: “The rejected elements had done nothing before and would not get anything in future as well. APC of opposition parties would end in a fiasco”. He went on to state that opposition parties had already been divided and would further split after APC.
CM Buzdar held that the opposition had once again proved that they only gathered for protecting their personal interests: “Opposition parties have totally ignored the national interest. Those who looted the national exchequer cannot hoodwink the people through the drama of APC as people of Pakistan are well aware and recognize the ineligible and corrupt faces.
“Opposition parties are trying to create hurdles in the progress and prosperity of the country. The negative role of the opposition is highly deplorable and Pakistan cannot afford any more chaos”.
SAPM Shahbaz Gill stating that government was not afraid of opposition’s APC held: “Indiscriminate accountability will continue whatever protest or negative tactics opponents adopt.” He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision was aimed at ensuring development and prosperity in the country while the agenda of opposition was to protect their personal interests. Gil further accused JUI-F’s Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman by saying that he was playing a role of commission agent for corrupt group.
Senior Punjab Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, while commenting on opposition’s APC stated that the meeting was not held for the country but for their personal interests. He said that it would have been appropriate for the opposition to put forward positive suggestions on a national agenda but they were not interested in any issue other than finding faults in the government and bringing themselves back to power.
Aleem Khan clarified that there was no threat to the government from such activities, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan will complete the term and keep the country on the right track. He said that in fact, the achievements of the Imran Khan were not acceptable to the opposition as he had given the high place to the country at the international level.
Abdul Aleem Khan said that the people had once again seen how Imran Khan’s narrative had proved to be true. He said, “The country is under the leadership of Imran Khan, progressing, no one will get NRO, political opponents will fail and the present government will move forward successfully.” Khan said that the parties participating in the APC were themselves not sincere to each other. He predicted that they would soon be at odds.
Asad Umar, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiative, quipped that in general elections 2018, the people of the country honestly respected their votes and expelled Nawaz Sharif from the government. He said that the power of respecting vote was so strong that not only Nawaz Sharif had to run off from the government but he had to flee the country as well: “Now this respect to vote is enough or he wants more?”
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