Prime Minister Imran Khan is “incapable and clueless,” opposition leaders said.
Karachi:
Prime Minister Imran Khan is “incapable and clueless” and his rule is worse than a dictatorship, Pakistani opposition leaders said at the second rally of an alliance formed to overthrow the prime minister.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of 11 opposition parties formed on September 20, has launched a three-phase anti-government movement under an “action plan” to eliminate the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) led by Khan. government.
Under the plan, a series of rallies, public gatherings and demonstrations will be held across the country, ahead of a “decisive long march” to Islamabad in January next year. The first of these demonstrations was held on Friday in Gujranwala, near Lahore.
“This incapable and disoriented prime minister will have to go home,” the head of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said on Sunday in the Bagh-e-Jinnah, which was packed with people, including supporters and workers. of the alliance members.
History has shown that the greatest dictators could not survive and “what position does this puppet have?” Zardari said pointing to Prime Minister Khan and added that “this is not a new fight but it will be a decisive fight.”
The Islamabad demonstration also marked the 13th anniversary of the twin explosions in Karsaz that targeted former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s procession home in 2007. The blast left around 200 people dead and several injured.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice Presidents Maryam Nawaz and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Pakhtunkhwa Party Chairman Milli Awami, Mehmood Achakzai, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) leader , Maulana Fazlur Rehman, were among the leaders of the opposition parties. who attended the rally.
The PPP also invited Mohsin Dawar, who heads the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), to address the meeting in Bagh-e-Jinnah.
Maryam Nawaz, daughter of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, attacked the PTI government for declaring opposition leaders and her father “traitors”.
“When answers are demanded, it is said that we are traitors,” said the vice president of PML-N.
Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was also declared a traitor, Maryam Nawaz said at the meeting.
Calling PM Khan a “coward”, Maryam accused him of using the military to save his face and declaring opponents to be traitors only to save his skin and hide his incompetence.
“Don’t scare us (by declaring us) traitors,” the PML-N vice president said, adding that “when you (Khan) are pressured for answers, you hide behind the armed forces.”
“You dishonor the army. You use them (army) to hide your failures. Who gave you this right?” Maryam asked.
“Remember this, one or two personalities are not the whole institution, but one or two people can defame the whole institution, and when they cover up for that institution, they cause great losses to that institution,” he said.
“We cannot respect those who violate their oaths. Is Nawaz Sharif wrong when he says that the army should not interfere in politics?” she asked.
Addressing the PDM’s first show of power in Gujranwala via video link from London on Friday, Sharif had accused Pakistan’s military and intelligence agency ISI of being behind his overthrow as prime minister and installing his ” puppet government “by bringing Imran Khan to power.
It was for the first time that the 70-year-old supreme PML-N, who was ousted from power in 2017 by the Supreme Court on corruption charges, directly appointed the head of the army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and the head of the ISI, Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, for interfering. in the 2018 election to secure Khan’s victory.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Khan warned that he would get tough on the opposition and that he would ensure that Sharif was brought from London and jailed for his deeds.
Sharif has been living in London since November last year after the courts and the government allowed him to go there for a period of eight weeks for medical treatment. But he did not return, while his lawyers told the court that he was still recovering.
The Islamabad High Court through newspaper advertisements has asked Sharif to appear before it before November 24 to avoid being declared a “criminal charge”.
Maryam said Khan’s speech was that of a defeated man who was concerned about the support the PDM had gathered in a short time.
Bilawal, in his speech, lashed out at Khan for “betraying” the people of Pakistan and said that the rise of “fascism” in the country had weakened the country’s position on Kashmir and other issues.
Mocking Prime Minister Khan and the head of the army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the head of the PDM, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, said: “Bajwa Sahib, I respect you very much. But please try to avoid these foolish friends ( Khan) “.
Mohsin Dawar, who was one of the first speakers at the rally, called the PDM a “beginning for real democracy and civil supremacy” in the country.
He criticized the incumbent government for bringing “unfounded cases” against political workers, whether from Waziristan, Gilgit Baltistan, Baluchistan or Sindh.
The cases, Dawar said, were shelved due to political differences. The current regime is “worse than a dictatorship,” he said.
The PDM will hold rallies in Quetta on October 25, Peshawar on November 22, Multan on November 30, and then a rally in Lahore on December 13.
Opposition leaders have announced that they will use all political and democratic options, including motions of no confidence and massive resignations from Parliament to seek the resignation of the selected prime minister.
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