ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Monday said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of 11 opposition parties, would review its decision of resigning from the national and the provincial assemblies, and would take part in the upcoming Senate elections.
Talking to reporters outside the Chief Commissioner Islamabad Office, he said the PDM would participate in the Senate elections, and would not resign from the assemblies.
About the opposition's announcement regarding a long march, he said that there was a difference between a long march and a "lone march".
He said that why the leaders of the PDM did not take the name of General Ziaul Haq (retired), when they talked about the alleged role of the army in politics.
"They polished Ziaul Haq's boots. They are a product of General Headquarters (GHQ) gate number four," he said.
The minister said the Pakistan Army was a great army. "It was not involved in the politics in the past and nor would it be in the future. It was with democracy, is with democracy, and will be with democracy," Rashid said.
To a question about Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari's statement that the opposition parties would have to fill jails, he said Zardari had spent most of the time in hospital in jail. Zardari has done a "PhD in criminology", he added.
He said that Chief Minister of Sindh Murad Ali Shah had raised the slogan of Prime Minister Bilawal Bhutto.
About Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), he said the JUI-F itself was facing differences within the party.
Rashid further said the government would decide about its response regarding long march when the PDM would announce the exact date.
"[Prime Minister] Imran Khan can take any decision. We have not held a meeting on how we will set up 'welcome camps' for them," he said.
The minister said the fight of the opposition was more against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) instead of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The fight of the opposition was limited to ending corruption cases against them, he said.
About the resignation of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Murtaza Javed Abbasi, he said Maryam Nawaz Sunday said Abbasi would give resignation whether it was a fake resignation or real.
It was up to Abbasi to decide whether he wanted to listen to Maryam Nawaz or got an inquiry done regarding who sent a resignation in his name to the National Assembly Secretariat, he said.
"You will see there will be no resignations," he said.
He further said the computerised and typed resignations submitted by parliamentarians were illegal, and only handwritten resignations were considered legal. The minister also announced setting up two night food bazaars in Islamabad.
He said that Patwar Khanas would be abolished from the city within a month.
The directives have been issued to ensure registration of vehicles within one day from January 1, he said, adding that a new Eagle Squad would be introduced to curb crime in the city.
He said that he had asked the ICT Administration to plan a housing scheme for media persons from the print and electronic media.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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