Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Tuesday agreed on joint anti-government movement and urged JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to defer his 'Azadi March' until further deliberations on mode of the protest drive. This was agreed during a meeting between PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif at the latter's residence in which senior leaders from both sides were also present.
Sources told that both the parties agreed to convince the JUI-F chief to defer the Azadi March till Nov and evolve a consensus in yet another all-parties conference (APC) on mode of the protest movement. "We both the parties have agreed that it has become inevitable to send this govt back to home. The opposition political parties agreed on launching a joint anti-movement because we believe that together we can get rid of this govt," said Ahsan Iqbal who was flanked by PPP leader Sherry Rehman during a joint media talk after the meeting.
He said the two parties also agreed that all opposition political parties together with the JUI-F should launch the struggle from a joint platform. For this purpose, he said Bilawal will soon hold meeting with Fazlur Rehman and a delegation of PML-N will also meet him today to hold deliberations on the joint struggles in light of the PML-N CEC's decisions which was held on Monday last.
He said the party's CEC has demanded a fresh free, fair and transparent election in the country which, he described, is the only way to steer the country out of the prevailing challenges. "We believe that this country can only be strengthened through the supremacy of the Constitution and continuation of democracy," he said.
Ahsan Iqbal said the meeting which was held at the invitation of Shahbaz Sharif, discussed the prevailing political situation of the country. He said the two parties agreed that the incumbent government in its one year has brought Pakistan's economy and governance to the level of 'serious threat' to the national security.
He maintained that due to the govt's incompetence and economic mismanagement, the deprived, farmers and the middle class have been affected badly, adding that the industrial sector is on the verge of collapse and the poverty is on the rise.
"There has been no example of the international isolation of the country during the one year tenure of this government and the latest such example was witnessed in the Human Rights Council where the country could not mange to garner support of 16 countries for a resolution [on Kashmir] to pass. They are actually playing with the future of the country," he further maintained.
Sherry Rehman, while speaking, maintained that the government has lost the trust of people, adding that there has been a 'tsunami' of price-hike and inflation while the government continues to put the burden on the masses.
She said the oil prices in the international markets are low but the government, instead of giving any relief to the masses, has continued to put the burden on the people.
"They [rulers] have no sympathy with the people and we have decided that they are going back from 'where' they have come to the power," Sherry said, adding that they have lost the mandate.
She alleged the govt for bulldozing the Parliament on around 30 pending bills, adding that the rulers are running the country through presidential orders. She also demanded the government to share with the people and the Parliament the promises it has made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Asked whether the two parties have agreed to participate in the 'Azadi March,' she said the two parties are holding meetings within other parties and also with the JUI-F. She said, it is a 'jalsa' or a 'long march,' it should not be a one-sided decision and to evolve a consensus the schedule of the meetings have been finalised.
Responding to a query regarding the next course of action after toppling the government since there doesn't appear to be any sign of winning the next election, Sherry said: "You know and I know. Which election did he [Imran Khan] win? He was brought."
On the issue of Kashmir, both Sherry Rehman and Ahsan Iqbal were of the opinion that all the political parties are untied on the Kashmir cause and in their support to the people of Kashmir against the illegal Indian occupation.
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