Joint strategy: Opposition parties’ conference cancelled

Rasheed departs for Islamabad to attend a PTI meeting

LAHORE: A conference of the opposition parties in the Provincial Assembly scheduled for Tuesday was cancelled following Leader of Opposition Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed’s departure for Islamabad to attend Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf’s central party meeting.

A statement released by Rasheed on Tuesday said that a new date for the conference could be announced on Wednesday (today).

The conference has witnessed delays since the assembly’s session was prorogued on April 15.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties said that there was consensus amongst their ranks. They said the conference had been delayed because of some unscheduled engagements of the participants.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Qazi Ahmad Saeed, PPP parliamentary leader, dismissed the suggestion that there were any differences between the central leadership of the PPP and the PTI. He said there was consensus in the opposition over the need for a country-wide drive against corruption and agitation against poor governance in the province. He said the conference had been called to deliberate a joint strategy for protests over these issues.

Pakistan Muslim League-Q parliamentary leader Vickas Hassan Mokal said that the Opposition parties would try to finalise a joint strategy ahead of PTI chief Imran Khan’s visit to the city to speak at a public gathering on May 1. Khan had announced the plan in his address to party workers and supporters at the PTI Foundation Day on April 24.

Mokal said there was resistance in his party to the idea of staging demonstrations in front of the Sharif family’s residence in Raiwind. He said the PML-Q central leaders had suggested that such demonstrations should be considered a measure of last resort.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th,  2016.