LAHORE: Punjab Housing and Urban Development Minister Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed has said that the opposition parties should take pity on the citizens of Lahore by deferring the meetings for two months as organizing public gatherings at a time when the Coronavirus is spreading fast will prove fatal.

"The Lahorites, being responsible citizens, will boycott the political rally on December 13," the Minister said while addressing a press conference here on Friday.

"The whole nation has seen the hollow slogan of resigning from the Assemblies; the opposition parties announced to resign and then backed out the very next day. Resignations will have no impact on the government, as by-elections will be held on the vacant seats," he said.

According to him, the opposition will be exposed after the Lahore meeting; all the opposition parties in the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) cannot fill up even a corner of the Minar-e-Pakistan Park. The Prime Minister's desire for negotiations should not be considered as a weakness.

Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed said the opposition wants to create trouble in the upcoming Senate election but it will be held on time and the government will not get trapped in their blackmailing. The country is progressing rapidly due to the ideal civil-military relationship. The World Bank has also declared the economic conditions of Pakistan as satisfactory, he added. The minister maintained that even coronavirus, lockdown, and other difficulties haven't badly affected the economic conditions.

Rasheed said that even the PDM leadership is not on the same page, as former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and former Prime Minister Khaqan Abbasi have a different perspective on dialogue.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020