PDM revises schedule of anti-govt rallies

Opposition alliance slams sedition case against Sharif, other PML-N leaders

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Monday announced a new schedule for its anti-government rallies, while opposition leaders came down hard on the federal government over the registration of a sedition case against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and others.

During a meeting of the steering committee, the alliance made Shahid Khaqan Abbasi its secretary general, Raja Pervez Ashraf the senior vice president and Mian Iftikhar Hussain was made its information secretary.

The new appointments came after the alliance chose Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman as head of the anti-government alliance if the newly-formed the opposition alliance. It was decided in Monday’s meeting that the top leadership would decide about the tenure of the PDM chief.

The meeting was held against the backdrop of the registration of the first information report (FIR) with the police in Lahore on complaint of one Badar Rashid against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader and several other party leaders.

The PDM, which had previously announced that its protest movement would kick off with public rally in Quetta on October 18, amended its schedule after the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) insisted that it commemorated October 18 as anniversary of the 2007 Karsaz bombing in Karachi.

According to PML-N secretary general Ahsan Iqbal, the PDM decided to hold the first public rally against the government in Gujranwala on October 16, while it would join the PPP rally in Karachi on October 18 and pushed back the rally in the Balochistan capital to October 25.

According to the new schedule, the first rally will be held in Gujranwala on October 16; then in Karachi on October 18, in Quetta on October 25, in Peshawar on November 22, in Multan on November 30 and in Lahore on December 13.

“Finally, a massive gathering will be held in Lahore on December 13, after which this fake setup will not be able to stand on its feet,” Iqbal said. “At these rallies, the masses will assert that they want the rule of Constitution and law in the country.”

Iqbal said that the the meeting condemned the registration of a sedition case against Sharif and other PML-N leaders. “The government has damaged the Kashmir cause by implicating Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider in the FIR,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that a mechanism for the transparent elections had been developed. “The PDM aims to rid the people of these rulers,” he said, adding that the opposition alliance was both political and electoral.

Senior PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf said that the objective of the PDM was to represent the people of Pakistan. “Today, the people in Pakistan are suffering because they are unemployed, and if we don’t raise voice for them it would be a grave injustice,” he added.

Awami National Party (ANP) leader and PDM Information Secretary Mian Iftikhar asked “all forces to listen to our voice and do not push the opposition against the wall and get rid of those who have brought the country to the brink of disaster.”

JUI-F Central General Secretary Ghafoor Hyderi said the government “did not fulfil even a single promises. “Several media workers are unemployed and industries have been severely affected,” he said, adding: “People should stand up against this incompetent government.”

Case against PML-N leaders

In the meeting, the leaders condemned the sedition case against Nawaz Sharif and other party leaders and described it as an attempt to harm the Kashmir cause. The PML-N leaders dared the federal ministers to come to the fore and do not hide behindthe complainant, Badar Rashid.

“For four days, federal ministers have been harping on the same tune,” Abbasi said. “If you [federal ministers] have the courage, you should not hide behind the name of Badar Rashid, you should register the case yourself,” he added.

Iqbal said that those who put Pakistan on the path to development were being labelled as traitors but those who rolled back the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and put the economy in negative growth were dubbed as patriots.

“Treason cases were filed in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh before, but today Punjab has been brought under the same category,” he said but warned that this game of labelling anyone with tags of “rebels or patriots” would not work any longer.

According to Ahsan Iqbal, the first information report (FIR) of the case stated that the PML-N leaders were weakening the institutions to divert attention from India’s actions in Kashmir. However, he pointed out that Kashmir’s disputed status was changed in “Naya Pakistan”.

He asked why Pakistan had become so weak that India usurped the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. “India was elected to the Security Council. The nation wants to know at what was the price of the fall of Kashmir.”

Iqbal said that four out of every five Pakistanis had become hopeless and now it had become treason to ask the rulers about the rise in prices of flour, sugar and other essential commodities. “National institutions are being pitted against the people,” he added.