Lahore rally failure exposed PDM: Imran

Prime Minister Imran Khan has claimed that the 11-party opposition alliance – the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – has been exposed by the “failure” of its Sunday power show in Punjab’s provincial capital.

“The people of Lahore have given their verdict by rejecting the PDM rally. People have completely realized the fake narrative of the opposition parties,” Imran said on Monday, according to sources.

The premier held two separate meetings respectively with the party spokespersons and party leaders. The meeting with party leaders was attended by key cabinet members as well as Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.

In the meetings, the prime minister held consultations on the opposition parties’ anti-government movement. The PDM on Sunday announced a march to Islamabad in mid-January or early February in a bid to dislodge the PTI led federal government.

Addressing these meetings, Imran Khan said after rejecting the opposition parties in the July 2018 general election the people have now also rejected their anti-government narrative. “The Sunday rally has exposed them. The people now fully understand their fake narrative,” he said.

According to sources, the participants of the meeting claimed that the PDM was divided over the question of resigning from the provincial and federal legislatures.

They said the government’s decision not to stop the PDM rallies was a right decision as the PDM’s narrative is losing ground after the opposition parties’ defeat in the Gilgit Baltistan elections and their failure to gather people at the anti-government rallies.

Talking with his party spokespersons, Imran Khan commended the political maturity of the people of Lahore and said it had taken him 15 years to motivate the people of the city to attend his rallies.

“I ask you to tell the opposition at every forum that come what may, the government will not offer them any NRO [a reprieve],” the premier said.

Marred by mismanagement, the much hyped PDM rally at Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan monument concluded on Sunday without presenting a clear action plan for taking the anti-government movement to its next phase.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman – who is also head of the PDM – however, did announce a long march to Islamabad but stopped short of giving a specific date for it.

The sixth PDM power show – held in what is regarded as the bastion of the PML-N, the biggest opposition party – was earlier dubbed as a referendum against the federal government, which, the PDM claims, came into power in the wake of a rigged polls in July 2018

But contrary to the expectations, Lahore rally – also hosted by the PML-N – was not as impressive. The presence of the workers of other parties especially the JUI-F and PML-N workers from other parts of Punjab, however, did provide a face saving.