Islamabad, Sep 20: Pakistan’s major Opposition parties on Sunday demanded “immediate” resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan as they launched an alliance to hold a countrywide protest movement to oust his government. A 26-point joint resolution was adopted by the All Parties Conference (APC) which was hosted by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and attended by Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) and several other parties.
At a joint press conference after the end of the multi-party meeting, JUI-F chief Mualana Fazl ur Rehman read out the resolution and said that the Opposition parties have agreed to launch an alliance named ‘Pakistan Democratic Movement’ to organise countrywide protest against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: government. The resolution alleged that the Imran Khan government has been granted “fake stability by the same establishment” that interfered with the elections to bring the incumbent rulers to power.
It expressed “extreme concern” over the increasing interference of the establishment in internal affairs of the country and regarded it as a “danger to the nation’s stability and institutions”. The forum also demanded that elections be held again in a transparent manner and that electoral reforms should be passed in order to ensure free and fair polls.
It said the Opposition would not cooperate with the government in the legislative process. It said that protest would go ahead in phases. In the first phase, the Opposition parties will hold joint rallies in all four provinces in October. The second phase will begin in December during which the Opposition will hold big rallies across the country.
Finally, a “decisive” long march towards Islamabad would start in January next year to oust the government, it said. Earlier, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif addressed the multi-party conference through a video link and said that the struggle of the Opposition parties was not against Khan but against those who brought an “inefficient” man to power.
Sharif, 70, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, has been living in London since November last year after the Lahore High Court granted him permission to go abroad for four weeks for treatment. On Friday, PPP chairman Zardari talked to him over phone and invited him to virtually attend the conference.
He staged a political comeback by criticising the country’s powerful establishment for allegedly supporting Khan. “Our struggle is not against Imran Khan. Today, our struggle is against those who installed Imran Khan and who manipulated elections (of 2018) to bring an inefficient man like him into power and thus destroyed the country, he said.
He asked the powerful Army to stay away from politics and follow the Constitution and vision of the country’s father Quaid-e-Azam’ Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The powerful Army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 70 plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.
Before Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari also addressed the conference through a video-link and criticised the government which he said was using the tactics to suppress the Opposition.
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