Even though the opposition parties on Thursday created a furore during President Arif Alvi's address at the joint session of the Parliament, they remained divided on the issue of launching a decisive campaign against the federal government with two main opposition parties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), are reluctant to support JUI-F's anti-government drive.
While Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari did not attend the Parliament's joint session as he was in Hyderabad on Thursday, the PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif did show up at the event but kept mum over Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal's (JUI-F's) plan to launch long march against the government.
On the sidelines of President Alvi's address at the Parliament's joint session, the JUI-F leadership reiterated its stance to launch Azadi March in October to topple the PTI's federal government. However, neither the PML-N nor the PPP supported this stance. Speaking to the media persons outside the Parliament House, Asad Mehmood, who is a member of National Assembly (MNA) from JUI-F and son of party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, said the JUI-F is making preparations for its Azadi March in October. "The preparations are in full swing and we would leave no stone unturned to send this government packing."
To a query regarding lack of support to JUI-F from PML-N and PPP over its Islamabad lockdown and Azadi March plan, Mehmood said, "This unjust, illegal, undemocratic and incompetent government needs to go. It's high time, this government be removed. And we are going to do it whether anybody is with us or not."
On the other hand, the PML-N leadership did not extend any support to the JUI-F in this regard. President PML-N Shehbaz Sharif avoided the media and did not answer the questions regarding the JUI-F's anti-government plan. The party leaders including Ahsan Iqbal and Pervaiz Rashid said the issue would be discussed at the PML-N's 'internal forums' before any final decision is arrived at.
In an interesting remark, Pervaiz Rashid said he supports the JUI-F's anti-government plan in his 'personal capacity' regardless of the his party's policy. "Whether PML-N supports the JUI-F's lockdown and Azadi March or not, the thing is I am 'personally' with JUI-F," he said.
The PPP has already made it clear that it would not become part of the JUI-F's anti-government march. PPP chief Bilawal told the media earlier on Wednesday that his party would not join the Azadi March but extended his 'moral and political support' to JUI-F.
Furthermore, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), another religious party that contested the last year's general elections in an alliance with JUI-F under the umbrella of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), has also refused to be part of the JUI-F's march.
On August 25, sensing the lack of support from the major opposition parties, JUI-F chief Fazal had proceeded to announce unilaterally, after chairing a party event, that JUI-F would launch an Azadi March in October. Fazl had also said that the proposal to launch Azad March would be put before the opposition parties in the meeting of Rahbar Committee, an alliance of anti-government parliamentary parties except JI.
Sources in opposition said that the Azadi March proposal was discussed in the Rahbar Committee's meeting held on August 26 but the delegates from PML-N and PPP refused to assure the JUI-F of their parties' complete support for the march. They, sources said, told the meeting's convenor and JUI-F leader Akram Durrani that the matter would be discussed with the respective party leaderships before taking a final decision.
"Fazl tried to play it wise by putting the ball in PML-N and PPP's court. Without first having the matter discussed in the Rahbar Committee, he announced from the forum of JUI-F to launch Azadi March. This is because Fazl was fearing lack of support from major opposition parties and he unilaterally announced Azadi March to put pressure on PML-N and PPP. But this strategy has failed to work and there is a cold response from PML-N and PPP," said a source privy to the matter.
"At a time when the leaderships of both parties are facing serious cases of corruption, money laundering, fake accounts and other offences, and are said to be in backdoor contacts with the 'powerful quarters,' they can hardly afford to do aggressive politics, something Fazl does not subscribe to," the source said.
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