Opposition unanimous on PM’s ouster

Durrani says opposition leadership will not hold separate meets with govt team

ISLAMABAD/ HYDERABAD/ LAHORE: Opposition parties on Wednesday unanimously said they would settle for nothing less than Prime Minister Imran Khan’s resignation.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Akram Durrani, the head of the joint opposition’s Rahbar Committee, as well as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari separately reiterated their demand for the premier’s resignation.

Durrani said the opposition had not stepped back from its demand. He added that he had not approached the government’s negotiating team and its members Defence Minister Pervez Khattak and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani had contacted him instead.

“It is the government that is feeling the heat and that’s why it is trying to reach out to us,” he told reporters at the Islamabad High Court.

Durrani said the leadership of the opposition parties would not hold meetings with the government’s negotiating team without the Rahbar Committee. “[JUI-F chief] Maulana Fazlur Rehman won’t meet Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi,” he added.

Addressing a convention of PML-N office-bearers, Shehbaz said the public while participating in the JUI-F’s ‘Azadi march’ on October 31 would strike Islamabad in the form of a massive wave, ridding the country of PM Imran.

“As long as Imran does not stop destroying the lives of Pakistanis, the PML-N will continue exposing his failures,” he added.

The PML-N president said PM Imran enjoyed the “overwhelming and unequivocal support of state institutions”.

“If Nawaz Sharif had even one-tenth of this support, he would have turned Pakistan into the leading nation in South Asia,” he added.

Earlier, Shehbaz chaired a meeting of the party's Punjab chapter. The participants pointed out the “deplorable state” of the agricultural sector and farmers in the country “caused by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) policies”.

They noted that “most Pakistanis could no longer afford even basic necessities like cooking oil, lentils, sugar, electricity, natural gas, vegetables, etc”.

Addressing a rally in Islamkot, Tharparkar district, Bilawal vowed to continue his party’s protest movement until the ouster of PM Imran.

"They [the PTI government] have destroyed the economy. They can't run the government and have sold out Kashmir," he said.

"This country and its people can't tolerate their cruelty any longer."

He reiterated his accusations that the government was providing relief to the rich and hurting the poor.

"No Pakistani can forgive them. We have to expel them. We have to make this puppet government fall."

However, Bilawal did not mention the JUI-F’s ‘Azadi march’ in his address even though his party has announced its support for the rally.