ISLAMABAD: Demanding Pakistan Prime Minister Imran khanFollowing his immediate resignation, the country’s main opposition parties have launched an alliance to hold a nationwide protest movement to overthrow his government.
A joint 26-point resolution was adopted on Sunday by the Conference of All Parties (APC), which was organized by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and was attended by the Pakistan Muslim 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 the resolution and said that the opposition parties agreed to launch an alliance called the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to organize protests across the country. against the Pakistani government Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) since October.
The resolution alleged that Khan’s government received “false stability from the establishment itself” that interfered with elections to bring incumbent rulers to power.
In an obvious reference to the mighty Pakistani Army, the resolution expressed “extreme concern” at the establishment’s increasing interference in the country’s internal affairs and viewed it as a “danger to the stability and institutions of the nation.”
According to the resolution, the protests would begin in phases. In the first phase, the opposition parties will hold joint demonstrations in the four provinces in October. The second phase will begin in December, during which the Opposition will hold large concentrations throughout the country.
Finally, in January of next year a long “decisive” march to Islamabad to overthrow the government would begin.
The forum also demanded that the elections be held again in a transparent manner and that electoral reforms be passed to guarantee free and fair elections.
Calling Parliament a “rubber stamp”, the PDM declared that the opposition will not cooperate with the government in the legislative process.
The Opposition will also recruit lawyers, merchants, farmers, students, the media, and members of civil society into its movement. To overthrow the government, opposition parties will use “all legal and constitutional options inside and outside parliament, including moving motions of no confidence and collective resignations from the assemblies at the appropriate time,” the resolution said.
The joint resolution, JUI-F chief Rehman said, has also rejected any attempt to introduce a presidential form of government in the country and promised to strengthen the country’s parliamentary system.
Earlier, addressing the multi-party conference via video link from London, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the opposition parties’ fight was not against Khan but against those who brought an “inefficient” man to the power.
The 70-year-old PML-N supreme 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, the president of the PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari He spoke to him on the phone and invited him to attend the conference virtually.
Sharif made a political comeback by criticizing the country’s powerful military establishment for allegedly supporting Khan.
“Our fight is not against Imran Khan. Today, our fight is against those who installed Imran Khan and rigged the elections (of 2018) to bring an inefficient man like him to power and thus destroyed the country,” he said.
He called on the Pakistani army to stay away from politics and follow the Constitution and the vision of the country’s father, ‘Quaid-e-Azam’, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
“If change is not brought, it will bring an irreversible loss to this country … We have made this country a joke in our own eyes and also internationally,” Sharif said.
The Pakistani Army has ruled the country for more than half of its more than 70 years of existence and has wielded considerable power over security and foreign policy.
Before Sharif, former President Asif Ali Zardari also addressed the conference via video link and criticized the government, which said it was using tactics to suppress the Opposition.
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