Qureshi meets Shah: PPPP, PTI to rally opposition parties' support on PM's resignation

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) have agreed to contact other opposition parties to rally their support to the single-point agenda of the Prime Minister's resignation in the wake of submission of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report in the Supreme Court.
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi telephoned Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah on late Monday night and sought time for a bilateral meeting to discuss the JIT report and current political situation of the country. On Tuesday, Shah Mahmood Qureshi called on Khurshid Shah in his chamber. The meeting was also attended by PTI leaders Shafqat Mahmood and Shireen Mazari and PPP's Rubina Khalid.
During the meeting, a joint strategy of opposition parties regarding the JIT report in Panama Papers case was discussed. They also mulled over requisitioning the National Assembly's session. Insiders disclosed that both parties decided to mount pressure on the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign immediately.
After the meeting, Khursheed Shah talked to the media and cited that Nawaz Sharif had himself announced on the floor of the National Assembly to resign if the commission findings would be against him. He urged the Prime Minister to resign by honouring his commitment.
He said the Parliament is facing threats. He asked Prime Minister to resign to strengthen democracy and Parliament. He recalled that former Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani had acted upon the court decision by resigning from his post. Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that there was unanimity of views between the PPPP and PTI on requisitioning National Assembly session. According to Shah Mahmood, a requisition signed by both the parties will be submitted to the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, requesting him to call a session of the House.
He said that PTI and PPP had already urged the Prime Minister to tender his resignation. He said that stance of PPPP and PTI on the JIT report was identical. He referred that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had also supported Imran's call to the Prime Minister to quit.
The PTI leader said that he had also contacted Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) chief Farooq Sattar. He said they would be contacting other parties too on the single- point agenda. "Objective to summon the NA session is to remind the Prime Minister of his promise he had made on the floor of the house," he said, adding that the Prime Minister had lost moral and political justification to continue.
Shah Mehmood said that the government wanted to become political martyr but they would not allow it. He claimed that the divisions had emerged within the ranks of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Separately, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi also made telephonic contacts with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq. The sources said that both the leaders agreed to convene a special session of the National Assembly to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country. The JI chief had also asked Nawaz Sharif to resign.