ISLAMABAD: Opposition parties demanding resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed to intensify their campaign threatening countrywide lock-down and resignations from assemblies, if their demands were not met.
Consultative body of nine opposition parties tagged ‘’rahbar’’ committee on Friday decided to stay put to their core demands as two day deadline given by Maulana Fazl ur Rehman the chief of politico-religious party Jamiat Ullema-e-Islam (F) to the PTI government expires on Sunday.
JUI-F came to federal capital on Thursday with hundreds of thousands of supporters mainly from remote areas of Balochistan, Sindh and KPK where it has religious following due to large network of religious seminaries.
They have camped at a ground adjacent to Kashmir Highway- a main road of the city only few kilometers from red zone where important government buildings and foreign missions are located.
Fazl an astute politician was equivocal when his party started protest march from Karachi from October 27. He elaborated the four demands in his speech on Friday after reaching Islamabad and gave the government two days deadline. Harsh demands including immediate resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan, holding of fresh elections without military’s involvement.
JUI-F is being supported by nine other opposition parties including Nawaz Sharif’ Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N), Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Asfadyar Wali’s Awami National Party (ANP), Mehmood Khan Achakzai’s Pakhtonkhwa Mili Awami Party (PkMAP) and some smaller groups. However, practical participation two main stream opposition parties PPP and PMl-N in the sit-in is mostly confined to speeches of their leaders.
Leaders of these parties in their speeches on Friday alluded involvement of country’s powerful military establishment in rigging last year’s general elections that brought PTI to power. They asked the military to stay neutral and shun supporting a ‘selected’ government.
Responding to their provocted statements military’s media wing ISPR Friday night said it has been fulfilling its constitutional role it stands with the democratically elected government. The statement has provided some support to beleaguered government of Imran Khan that came to power fifteen months back with tall claims but has delivered little so far. The impact of foundering economy is being felt by common man suffering from double digit inflation and squeezing incomes.
The incumbent government says it is confident to tackle the sit-in. It says if they violate the agreement between Islamabad Capital Administration (ICT) that binds them to limit protest within allocated ground force could be used.
It is feared that any clash administration would lead to violence as protestors and armed with sticks. Among the protestors there are hundreds of people from ‘Ansar ul Islam’, which the government alleges is a potential militant outfit but JUI-F claims they are volunteer force of workers raised to maintain security of protestors. People waving Afghan Taliban flags were also seen in the protest.
Rehbar Committee the consultative body of the opposition parties after its meeting on Friday announced that if government took any action against protestor it will be resisted with full strength.
A leader of Rehbar Committee Akram Khan Durrani said that the opposition very clear in its demands and sit-in of Islamabad may turned into country-wide lock down.
“We unanimously agreed over the proposals including country-wide lock down and resignations from national and provincial assemblies”.
“We unanimously agreed over the proposals including country-wide lock down and resignations from national and provincial assemblies. The representatives of opposition parties will consult the proposal with their top leadership’’ Durrani told reporters after meeting of the committee comprising second tier leadership of these opposition parties.
Final decision in this regard rests with top leadership, he added. According to him resignation of the premier Imran Khan is the fundamental demand of opposition political forces and the participants decided not to budge from this demand.
He said opposition was adhering to the agreement made with the administration but the government itself is violating it. ‘’If it continues to do so then we shall also be forced to use our available options, adding government has created hurdles for the people who want to participate in this protest”, he said
Earlier, federal defence Minister Pervez Khattak, who heads government team tasked to negotiate with the opposition parties warned the opposition against breaching agreement JUI-F had signed with the Islamabad administration before they were allowed to stage protest in the federal capital.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday alongside other members of the committee, Khattak said that the government was open to talks with the opposition but re-election or the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan is out of the question.
“We have told them that there will be no discussion about resignation of the prime minister; don’t even think about it,” he said.
The PTI leader reminded the opposition’s Rehbar Committee that it had agreed to stage their protest in the allocated location in at H-9, Peshawar Mor.
“We are in touch with all political parties, including the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F),” he said, adding that the committee hoped the protesting parties will keep their word, “otherwise administrative action will be taken”.
“If they go beyond [the agreement] then it would be a violation of their own agreed accord. In that case no one should complain about us,” he warned.
Khattak warned that the protesting parties would be responsible for the consequences if they fail to abide by the agreement.
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Commenting over a statement of PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif about the establishment, he said that for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the institution was “neutral” because of which the PML-N faced a defeat in the election.
“Our doors are open … we are ready for talks but if we are forced [then the opposition should realise that] Prime Minister Imran, I or minister alone are not the government. Our government is all institutions and they have signed agreement with institutions,” he said, adding that the government’s committee had just proposed the agreement, the opposition had approved and signed it.
Responding to a question about the Pakistan Army’s support to the government, he said that the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had already announced yesterday that the army supports Constitution.
“The army is not a separate entity. The army is a part of the government. Administration, army, bureaucracy and parliament, they all work like a team, don’t take them separate. They make the government,” he said.
Read: Fazl sets two-day deadline for PM Khan to resign
