Fazl sets terms: PPP, ANP must apologize before being allowed back into PDM

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Tuesday said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP) can rejoin the opposition alliance, if the parties apologise for parting ways with the anti-government alliance.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that a summit session of the opposition alliance has been summoned on May 29, but the PPP and the ANP are not invited to attend the summit.

The PDM chief said that the PPP and the ANP will not be invited to the PDM session. “The PPP leadership is not mature enough to follow the protocols used to be followed by the politicians,” he said.

Giving the details of the two Central Executive Committee meetings of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), Maulana said that his party discussed overall prevailing political, security and regional situation.

He added that the JUI also discussed recent political developments of the country as well as the geopolitical situation.

He said that his party has rejected government’s move to give air and ground facilities to the USA for using against Afghanistan, saying that the move is tantamount to push the country into another war.

He flayed the government claims of eradicating terrorism, saying every other day terrorists are striking targets of their choice.

He further said that the law and order situation was worsening in the country as now various tribes in different parts of the country have taken weapons against each and other, the situation must be addressed, and providing bases to the USA will further deteriorate the law and order situation.

“Armed confrontation and tribal bloodshed has deprived people of peace and the government seems powerless in this situation,” the JUI leader said.

“We are also concerned over the decision of providing airbases to the United States in Pakistan after the US pullout from Afghanistan,” he said.

“Pakistan’s land and air limits should not be allowed to be used against any country,” he stressed. He said that his party has also rejected the Waqf Amlak Act 2020, saying the government was following former dictator Pervez Musharraf and the Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia has vowed to resist the act.

He said that the JUI has decided to hold countrywide conventions against the Waqf Amlak Act 2020, which is amid at controlling the Islamic seminaries.

“The JUI will present its proposals in the May 29 PDM’s session and a joint line of action will be decided in consultation with other parties,” Fazl said.

“The central consultative body is of the view the incumbent government is a product of rigging. An unlawful government has been imposed over the people, which is unacceptable,” he said.

“The government has brought the country to the verge of economic bankruptcy in the last three years,” he further said.

“The central consultative body views the claims of peace and law and order vanish in thin air. Terrorist acts claim lives of citizens as lawlessness is spreading from FATA to the entire country,” JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman claimed.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif, on Tuesday, met the JUI chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, to inquire after his health.

Both the leaders discussed prevailing political, law and order situation.

Both the leaders agreed that the opposition should stand united ahead of the budget session as differences have weakened their struggle.

They also mulled over a strategy for opposition relating to budget and mass public contact movement afterward.

The ANP was the first party to left the opposition alliance, followed by the PPP that also announced to resign from all the posts of the opposition alliance in protest against the issuance of show-cause notices.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021