PDM asked to postpone Peshawar rally

Opposition will hold public gathering despite terror threats, says JUI-F leader

PESHAWAR:

Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) should postpone its rally in Peshawar keeping in view the potential threats of terrorists’ attacks.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Minister for Labour and Culture Shaukat Yousafzai said this as he addressed media after meeting with K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Saturday.

Yousafzai asked the PDM to hold talks with the government on all issues except accountability.

“Peshawar has witnessed a tragic terrorism incident in which innocent children of a madrassa were targeted. The PDM should reconsider their Peshawar rally in view of the potential threat of terrorism,” he said adding that K-P government will not impose any ban on rallies and processions.

The PDM should not play with the lives of the people to save the corruption of some leaders, he added.

The provincial minister said that speeches are being made in PDM rallies against the army which is reprehensible and is providing an opportunity to the enemies for propaganda against the country.

Yousafzai said that if opposition has an agenda on public issues, the government is ready to negotiate with them.

Meanwhile, the opposition Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) General Secretary Abdul Ghafoor Haideri vowed that the opposition parties under the banner of PDM will hold its rally on November 22 despite the recent bomb blast and security threats in Peshawar.

Haideri said asked the provincial government to ensure foolproof security for the public gathering and warned that government would be responsible in case of any untoward incident. All the opposition political will take part in the rally, he added.

The JUI-F leader also visited the madrassa where bomb blast had happened and offered condolence to the bereaved families and asked about the health of injured students.

He also criticized K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan for not visiting the bomb blast victims.

Neither the provincial nor the federal government has taken notice of the incident yet and no committee or commission has been formed to probe into the incident, he asserted. He also demanded that students of the madrassa should be provided a relief package.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2020.