‘Your ultimatum stands rejected’, Qureshi tells opposition

Says prime minister will not resign, assemblies will not be dissolved

KARACHI:

“The PDM’s ultimatum stands rejected,” said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi a day after the alliance of 11 opposition parties gave the PTI government until January 31 to step down or else they would unleash a “sea of people” on the federal capital.

By coincidence or by design, Qureshi’s choice of words was witty. It hit where it might have hurt the most. He used a phrase more or less similar in structure to the one used by Nawaz Sharif in his tweet about the military’s report into the alleged abduction of Sindh’s police chief in November. “…Report ‘Rejected’”.

Sharif’s tweet, as deciphered by political observers, was a not-so-cryptic message to the powers that be as the then military spokesperson had “rejected” in a tweet the PM House notification in the wake of an inquiry into the DawnLeaks episode. The tweet ended on “…Notification is rejected.”

It might be mere coincidence and we might be reading too much into it, but Qureshi’s choice of words did give political observers flashbacks of the witty verbal dueling. “We reject your ultimatum,” the soft-spoken Qureshi said while directly addressing the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) whom the government ridicules as “a gang of masqueraders”.

“You say the prime minister should resign by Jan 31. We are categorically saying the prime minister of Pakistan will not step down,” he told the media in Islamabad on Tuesday. “You say the assemblies should be dissolved,” he added. “The prime minister has said and I’m repeating the assemblies will not be dissolved. The deadline stands rejected.”

“Why would a government, voted to power by 17 million voters, resign,” he wondered. “You call yourself a movement for democracy and supremacy of the Constitution, then how could you make such an undemocratic and unconstitutional demand? He [PM Imran] has people’s mandate. You’re asking him to resign because it is your wish?”

Qureshi added that the PPP and the PML-N governments had completed their five-year constitutional tenure after winning the 2008 and 2013 elections, respectively. Why the PTI should not serve out its mandated term after winning the 2018 elections?

“Let’s suppose we have a fresh election, and you get the mandate. Why would then the PTI accept your mandate? Where will this vicious cycle lead us to?” Qureshi warned that this attitude would only harm democracy which had been derailed more than once in the past.

Qureshi was speaking to the media two days after the PDM staged its much-hyped sixth power show in Lahore, which is considered the bastion of the Sharifs’ political power. The Jalsa, according to political commentators, fell short of the hype – much to the dismay of the opposition.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, however, took out her frustration on the Pakistani media for “hiding the truth” about the “historic rally in Lahore”. Qureshi said there was no point in blaming the media for your failure.”

“It was a moment of reckoning. But instead accepting the defeat of their narrative, the PDM threw the blame at the media’s door. “The media only reports what it sees,” he said. “If the media gives you the coverage of your liking, then the media is free, but when it does objective coverage, then you say the media is under pressure from the institutions.”

The foreign minister claimed that the PPP was still undecided on whether or not to quit the assemblies, while the PML-N was visibly divided on the matter. “If you’re in agreement on resigning from the assemblies, then you should submit your resignations with the [National Assembly] speaker on January 31 [the date by which the PDM has asked the government to resign],” Qureshi said.

He laughed off the opposition’s decision to hand their resignations to the heads of their respective parties. “Mature political workers know it is nothing but a ruse, a pressure tactic, and a time-gaining activity.”

Last week, Maryam said that resignations of their lawmakers have started piling up since the day the PDM announced they would quit the assemblies in an attempt to bring down the PTI government.

Qureshi claimed that the PDM didn’t have commonality of views on the proposed long march either. “They [PDM leaders] said they would convene again on February 1 to announce a date for long march.”

Qureshi called the PDM an “unnatural” and “short-lived” alliance and “the two wishful prime ministers-in-waiting would not tolerate each other. The time is not far when they will be at each other’s throat,” he added.

“On the one hand Maryam is making frantic efforts to replace [her uncle and PML-N president] Shehbaz Sharif, while on the other hand Bilawal is trying to make his supporters believe that he is the one calling the shots in the party."

According to Qureshi, Maryam and Bilawal said at the Jalsa that time for dialogue was over. “But the next day, Bilawal said they could consider negotiations if the assemblies are dissolved first,” Qureshi recalled. “I am asking who would negotiate with you and why,” he wondered. “Ultimatums and threats will not work,” he added emphatically.

In the same breath, however, he reminded “inexperienced” Bilawal to learn a thing or two from his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto because “in politics talks happen, doors cannot be slammed shut on negotiations.

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