‘No stopping’ PDM’s Peshawar rally today

JUI-F chief says PTI govt ‘as big a problem’ as Covid-19

PESHAWAR:

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an 11-party opposition alliance formed to send the PTI-led -government packing, has announced that it would it stage its “historic” rally in Peshawar on Sunday (today) despite the city administration’s refusal to grant it permission because of the rise in Covid-19 cases.

Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the president of the alliance, maintained that the government was using the issue of coronavirus as an excuse to stop the opposition from staging its public gatherings.

“This illegitimate government itself is a big corona," the Maulana said. “We speak about Covid-19, but we should also highlight Covid-18,” he added, referring to the PTI government. “Getting rid of this government will be major relief for the nation.”

The JUI-F chief said the PDM would stage a historic rally in Peshawar and not allow its anti-government movement to lose steam at any stage.

He added that the PTI government had come to power by stealing the mandate of the people.

Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Imran Khan, the opposition leader said: “One Trump is gone, it’s time to send Pakistan’s Trump home too.”

Fazl said the organisational structure of the PDM had been completed and its anti-government movement had gathered further momentum with all the constituent parties of the alliance united on all issues.

He added that the alliance would stage a rally in Larkana on November 26 and then in Multan on November 30.

The Peshawar administration has refused to grant permission to the PDM to hold a rally in the provincial capital citing the exponential rise in Covid-19 cases in recent days.

The deputy commissioner in a statement said Covid-19 positivity rate had increased by 13% in Peshawar district which was “alarmingly high”.

“Any large public gathering is likely to increase the spread of deadly virus”, it read.

“To protect the human lives in view of aforementioned factors, the permission cannot be granted.”

On Monday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced that the government had decided that there would be no more political rallies across the country, keeping in view the rapid increase in coronavirus cases.

The Islamabad High Court has also observed that the implementation of the decisions of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19 was mandatory in the event of a coronavirus crisis and legal action might be taken against those violating its decisions.