Attempts under way to divide PDM, says Fazl

JUI-F chief says he still expects positive response from PPP on resignations issue

KARACHI:

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Friday said attempts were being made to divide the opposition alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement.

Speaking to a private TV channel, Fazl, who also heads the 11-party opposition alliance – PDM, rejected speculations that the alliance would split apart.

He also said the anti-government long march of the joint opposition scheduled for March 26 would now possibly take place after the holy month of Ramazan.

The long march was put off and rumours of a possible division surfaced in the wake of PDM leaders in a recent meeting being unable to reach a consensus on the issue of resigning from the assemblies en masse.

“I am expecting a positive response from the PPP when its central executive committee meets to decide on the issue,” Fazl said.

“God has made us sensible. If we can't understand what is beneficial or harmful for us, then we should quit politics," he added.

The JUI-F chief said he had suggested during the PDM meeting on Tuesday that opposition lawmakers should resign from the National Assembly in the first phase.

"I recommended resigning from the provincial assemblies in the second phase, he added.

“The lawmakers in the Sindh Assembly were to resign in the last phase.”

Fazl said there was no other option other than a protest movement against the government.

“If we wanted to fight from within parliament [as PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari suggested], why did we form the PDM?" he asked.

"We have to choose one of two options: either mobilise the masses or remain in parliament," he added.

Speaking on Pakistan-India relations, the JUI-F chief said war would not benefit the two countries. "We should move forward in our ties with India with dialogue.”

The PDM appeared to be in tatters on Tuesday owing to a serious divide on the issue of lawmakers’ resignations from assemblies, that forced it to postpone the long march against the government.

The PDM summit ended without taking any decision on major issues as leaders engaged themselves in heated exchanges over resignations, the Senate elections, and on the question of who to nominate as leader of opposition in the upper house of parliament.

Read more: Nawaz, Fazl consider minus-PPP scenario

According to sources, the PPP flatly refused to resign from the assemblies, while the PML-N refused to recall its supremo Nawaz Sharif from London.

On the other hand, Fazl demanded accountability over the defeat of Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in the election for the post of Senate Deputy Chairman.

During the meeting, Zardari urged the PML-N supremo to return to Pakistan from London to reinforce the opposition against the PTI-led government, and if necessary the leaders of the PDM would go to jail together.

Zardari’s call for return of Sharif, who has been living in self-exile in London, stunned the participants of the PDM leaders who were in the federal capital to discuss the fate of the much-debated long march on Islamabad to unseat the PTI-led coalition government.

Later, Fazl briefly appeared before a battery of waiting journalists to announce the postponement of the long march, which was scheduled to begin on March 26, until the PPP returns with its formal decision on the resignation issue.