Opposition Announces Plan to Quit Assemblies

On Tuesday, the 11-party opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), declared that all the members of the parliament, belonging to constituent parties, will tender their resignations from all provincial assemblies. Moreover, by December 31st, all respective party chiefs will receive resignations from the national assembly as well. This is their last attempt to ensure that the PTI government vacates office. 

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Chief of JUI-F and the head of PDM, was the one to reveal this to the country. He held a news conference in the capital city of the country and was accompanied by the Chairman of the PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and Maryam Nawaz, the Vice President of PML-N. This announcement was made soon after the opposition-held a meeting to talk about their future course of action. 

Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and the supreme leader of PML-N, along with the former president of the country and co-chairman of the PPP, Asif Ali Zardari, took part in the meeting through video-link. 

The Maulana said that the lawmakers belonging to the opposition will soon give in their resignations to their respective party heads. This will prevent them from engaging in any kind of dialogue with the current PTI government. 

The Chief of JUI-F went on to add that the steering committee of the PDM is scheduled to hold a meeting on Wednesday. In it, they will talk about staging their anti-government long march in the capital city of Pakistan. In addition, the opposition parties have planned to hold protests and demonstrations all over the country. 

Rehman made sure to reassure the public that the alliance will go ahead with its ‘historical rally’ in Lahore, at Minar-e-Pakistan. He stated that the gathering will take place as planned on the 13th of December and nothing is going to stop them. Furthermore, the head of PDM issued a warning to the PTI government and advised them against creating any obstacles for the 11-party opposition alliance. 

According to him, the decision to give in resignations from all assemblies was decided after a unanimous vote. He claimed that all constituent parties of the PDM agreed with this decision. The JUI-F chief assured that the opposition will not do anything to disappoint the citizens of the country. 

Taking a jab at the current government, the president of the PDM said that the opposition parties will not take back their resignations, much like the PTI did back in 2014. He further revealed that the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, had sought a meeting with the opposition. However, Rehman claimed that the offer had been rejected by the PDM. 

The head of the 11-party opposition alliance maintained that the premier is not worthy of a dialogue and thus, will not be granted an NRO. This was spoken in reference to a recent interview given by Khan, in which he made it clear that an NRO, relief in corruption cases, will not be granted to any member of the opposition.