Another Rehbar Committee meeting in offing

LAHORE:

Despite several sessions between the senior most party leaderships, and a recently called Rehbar Committee (RC) meeting, the opposition parties are yet to arrive at a bare minimum common agenda before the All Parties Conference (APC), given another RC moot is on the cards.

On the other hand, some small parties remained unaware about the decision of calling another meeting before the APC.

According to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Maulana Amjab, another RC meeting would be called in the coming days with the purpose of giving final shape to the proposed treaty before the APC.

He said the treaty would then be accorded approval in or after the APC and added that the agenda for the APC would be finalised in the upcoming RC moot.

Another JUI-F leader Mufti Kafayatullah, when asked about the three different and somewhat contradictory action plans proposed by three major stakeholders of the opposition camp, stated that the next RC would deliberate upon this issue.

He urged all the political parties to enter the APC with an open mind and warned that mistakes made in the past cannot be repeated.

When asked about Shehbaz Sharif, who has openly opposed long marches and sit-ins, and reportedly even opposed an in-house change, Kafayatullah maintained that every political party had a different approach with in its own camp and that PML-N was no different to it.

Referring to the reported Nawaz and Shehbaz camps in the PML-N, he said that there were two approaches within the party.

Speaking about the APC, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marrium Aurangzeb noted that a bare minimum common agenda was yet to be decided.

“Another Rehbar Committee meeting, which is likely to be called in the next few days, will finalise it [agenda]. Nawaz league will honor any decision taken by the APC,” she said.

Meanwhile, party leaders of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) remained unaware about any such development.

Senator Usman Kakar of PMAP, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that they had not been informed about the possibility of calling another RC meeting.

Kakar remarked that they were only aware about the APC that had been scheduled for September 20.

Commenting on the decisions taken in the last RC moot, he said no such development had taken place about the agenda or anything else.

The PMAP leader said that many parties wanted the Pakistan Peoples Party and Nawaz league to sign an agreement to ensure that they would abide by the decisions of the APC.

He said that there were trust issues within the opposition camp, which could only be dealt with by signing a treaty.

Jahanzaib Jamaluddin from BNP-M also said that they were not aware of any upcoming RC meeting.

Sources within the JUI-F claimed that the JUI-F and other political parties had concerns about the PML-N and PPP.

He said only an agreement could force all the opposition parties to stay united, otherwise any party can back track from their verbal commitment.

He further said that the PML-N and PPP will not be allowed to use this platform for negotiating concessions.