Opposition parties Friday announced formation of "Pakistan Alliance for Free and Fair Election" to launch countrywide protests against the alleged rigging in July 25 general election, besides giving a tough time to upcoming government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) inside and outside the Parliament.
The decision to form the new alliance was taken during a meeting of the 'joint working committee' of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Pakhtuukhwa Milli Awami Party (PaKMAP), Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and National Party (NP) in which it was also decided that protest demonstration would be held in front of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) headquarters on August 8 and provincial offices of the ECP on August 9 against the alleged rigging in the polls.
The PML-N was represented by Ahsan Iqbal, Mushahid Hussain Sayed and Maryam Aurangzeb; Sherry Rehman, Naveed Qamar and Qamar Zaman Kaira represented the PPP; MMA by Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Liaquat Baloch; ANP by Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and Mian Iftikhar Hussain; PaKMAP by Senator Mohammad Usman Kakar; NP by Abdul Malik Baloch; and Barrister Masroor Shah represented the QWP in the meeting held here at the residence of Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq.
The opposition parties' leaders refrained from giving a formal briefing to media persons about the decisions taken in the meeting. However, they did speak informally to reporters after the meeting.
"It is decided that members-elect of the National Assembly from the opposition parties would observe "black day" on the occasion of oath-taking of Imran Khan as the next prime minister," said Maryam Aurangzeb of the PML-N while talking informally to the reporters after the meeting.
She said that to register their protest over the alleged rigging in the elections, the members-elect of the opposition parties would also wear black arm bands as a sign of protest on the occasion of oath taking in the National Assembly.
The PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said that the 'joint working committee' unanimously prepared a roadmap for the future course of action that will be shared with party leadership by the representatives of every party in the committee.
After getting approval from the party leadership, he said, the roadmap will be pursued collectively from a single platform inside and outside the Parliament.
He further said that parties such as PML-N, PPP and MMA would themselves nominate candidates for the elections of leaders of the House, Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
To another question, Ahsan Iqbal said that PML-N being the second largest party would get the slot of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, adding that PPP has also acknowledged that it is right of the PML-N to keep the office of the leader of the opposition.
PPP's Syed Naveed Qamar said that meeting finalized that likeminded parties would continue their struggle under the banner of "Pakistan Alliance for Free and Fair Election" inside and outside the Parliament.
Liaquat Baloch of MMA, who is also secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), said that opposition parties have finalized their nominees for the slots of prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker. However, the names will be announced on the election day in the National Assembly, he added.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain of ANP said that the meeting decided that protest demonstration from the platform of the alliance would be held on August 8 in front of the ECP headquarters to register protest over the alleged rigging in the elections. On August 09, he said that similar protest demonstrations would be held at provincial level in front of the ECP provincial offices.