‘PDM will not cave in until all 26 demands are accepted’

PPP leaders accuse PM Khan of creating rifts among political parties, provinces

HYDERABAD:

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will not cave in to pressure until all 26 of its demands are accepted by the federal government, insisted Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, PPP Sindh president Nisar Khuhro dubbed Prime Minister Imran Khan the premier of a minority government, whereas the PDM was an alliance of 11 political parties that would further strengthen the opposition.

Lambasting Khan's government in the Centre of taking recourse to the 'same ugly politics' of creating rifts among political parties to eke out supporters for itself - a policy he said former president Pervez Musharraf had also employed - he added that the incumbent government was against the 18th Amendment as it was running 'an ordinance factory.'

Meanwhile, Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah accused Khan of creating controversy around the institution of Pakistan's armed forces by publicly stating that the army stood in his support.

"Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's incapable federal government always distracts people's attention to irrelevant issues whenever economic problems or those pertaining to inflation arise," he remarked, arguing that the Centre's repeated references to the National Reconciliation Ordinance were also an attempt in the same direction.

"Whenever people raise issues about wheat, sugar, pulses and the other difficulties they face, the government responds by saying it will not give the opposition an NRO," he added.

Condemning the assassination of Maulana Adil Khan the previous day, the minister said the country's enemies were conspiring to fan the flames of sectarianism through such incidents. He added that Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had formed an inquiry committee about the killing and expressed the hope that the murderers would soon be exposed and arrested.

PPP MNA Nafisa Shah proclaimed that the PDM rally to be held in Karachi on October 18, which would also commemorate the martyrs of the Karsaz blast on the same day in 2007, would be the beginning of a movement for salvation.

"The people being tormented and held hostage by this ill-fated government will join us," she asserted, deploring that Pakistan's economy was in free fall while the poor were being exploited.

Nafisa further argued that the premier's recent speech reflected that he was unnerved, proving that he was a 'selected' PM.

Also addressing the press conference, PPP information secretary Maula Bux Chandio said the opposition had made an offer of collaboration to the government to make citizens' lives easier. "But now, because of this incapable government, the opposition is taking to the streets."

He contended that Khan's government had failed to deliver on its promises, owing to which the PM repeatedly tried to stir up panic in the country and distract the public's attention.

Moreover, blaming the premier for raking up regional and ethnic politics, Chandio asked him to desist from playing with the rights of the people.

"Khan's divisive politics is creating rifts among the provinces," he argued, asking the PM to stop conspiracies against Sindh and to stop taking vindictive action against opposition leaders.

Earlier, the PPP's provincial leaders held a meeting at MPA Sharjeel Inam Memon's farmhouse to discuss arrangements for the upcoming rally.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2020.